\^/  AMERICAN  V^ 

^  MISSIONARY  j"^  ^*^ 
r^.    IN  JAPAN     / 

;.J. 

1 

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BV  3445  .G67  1892 
Gordon,  M.  L.  1843-1900.    | 
An  American  missionary  in 
Japan 


AN  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY 
IN  JAPAN 


m(^.. 


u../^ 


ijA 


BY 


v/ 


Rev.  M.  L.  GORDON,  M.D. 


IUbfTlii3trg\t>e|)ttasj 


BOSTON    AND    NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

(Srte  0iber?iDe  l^res?,  Cambridge 

1892 


Copyright,  1892, 
By  M.  L.  GORDON. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  3fass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


TO  ALL  "  MY  FELLOW-WORKERS  UNTO  THE  KINGDOM 

OF  god"  in  japan. 


PEEFACE. 

In  the  spring  of  1891,  just  before  leaving 
Japan,  I  made  an  evangelistic  tour  of  sev- 
eral weeks'  duration,  accompanied  for  much 
of  the  time  by  two  Japanese  preachers. 
The  younger  of  these  had  but  recently 
begun  work  there ;  the  older  had  done  more 
than  any  other  man  to  create  the  Christian 
communities  which  had  sprung  up  here  and 
there  in  that  region  during  the  preceding 
ten  years,  and  was  therefore  familiar  with 
the  religious  history  of  every  individual 
believer  in  them.  As  my  own  knowledge, 
though  not  so  minute,  covered  much  of  the 
same  ground,  it  was  natural  enough  that,  as 
we  walked  over  the  mountains  or  sipped  our 
tea  in  the  wayside  tea-houses,  there  were 
many  reminiscences  of  earlier  days ;  of 
faith,  struggle,  and  achievement,  or  of  un- 
faithfulness, doubt,  and  failure. 

One  evening,  after  we  had  spoken  to  a  fine 


Vi  PREFACE. 

audience  admitted  by  ticket  to  the  parlors 
of  a  hotel,  an  hour  was  again  devoted  to 
reminiscences,  in  the  midst  of  which  the 
younger  preacher  turned  to  the  older  and 
said:  "You  ought  to  write  this  out  and 
publish  it  for  the  encouragement  of  others," 
a  remark  which  I  was  glad  to  second.  A 
little  later  came  the  thought,  ''Would  not 
the  American  friends  of  missions  be  glad  to 
know  something  of  the  same  story  ?  " 

Lying  down  to  sleep  with  this  thought  in 
my  mind  I  awoke  before  daylight  —  an  un- 
fortunate habit  with  me  on  such  tours  —  to 
find,  as  I  lay  there  in  my  bed  on  the  floor 
of  the  hotel  of  Araki  Kimbei  in  Miyadzu, 
Tango,  a  book  with  the  title  "  A  Missionary 
in  Japan "  written  diagonally  across  the 
cover,  and  many  headings  of  its  chapters  as 
clearly  defined  to  my  mind's  eye  as  this  book 
now  is  to  the  physical  eye  of  the  reader. 

This  will  explain  both  the  origin  and 
nature  of  this  volume.  It  is  not  an  auto- 
biography, —  I  do  not  suspect  the  public  of 
desiring  a  chronicle  of  my  deeds,  as  the  fol- 
lowing pages  will  bear  witness.     Nor  is  it  a 


PREFACE.  Vll 

history  of  missions  in  Japan  or  even  of  tlie 
one  mission  with  which  it  has  been  my  for- 
tune to  be  associated ;  these  tasks  await 
more  competent  hands.  It  is  primarily  an 
attempt  to  record  what  I  have  seen  of  the 
wonderful  manner  in  which  the  religion  of 
Christ  is  approaching  the  minds,  and  hearts, 
and  lives  of  the  Japanese  people,  and  their 
noble  response  to  this  divine  and  gracious 
approach. 

A  secondary  aim  is  to  outline  the  way  in 
which  missionaries  prepare  for,  begin,  and, 
with  the  help  of  Japanese  associates,  carry 
on  to  success  the  work  for  which  they  are 
sent  out.  I  have  written  of  necessity  from 
the  point  of  view  of  one  member  of  one 
mission,  but  the  book  is  sent  forth  with  the 
belief  that  it  is  fairly  illustrative  of  the 
work  which  the  representatives  of  the  vari- 
ous missionary  societies  in  Japan  are  doing, 
—  ab  uno  disce  omnes  —  and  with  the  hope 
that  I  am  thus,  even  during  my  enforced 
absence,  contributing  something  to  the  up- 
building of  the  Kingdom  of  Truth  and 
Righteousness  in  Japan. 


viii  PREFACE. 

Ill  conclusion,  it  is  a  pleasant  duty  to 
offer  my  thanks  to  the  officers  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  and  other  missionary  societies, 
including  the  American  Bible  Society,  for 
various  courtesies  received ;  and  also  to 
several  of  my  colleagues  whose  letters  in 
the  *'  Missionary  Herald  "  and  to  me  per- 
sonally have  given  valuable  information 
which  I  could  not  always  burden  the  text 
by  acknowledging.  Special  thanks  are  due 
also  to  the  Rev.  G.  F.  Verbeck,  D.  D., 
whose  paper  read  before  the  Osaka  Con- 
ference on  the  "  History  of  Protestant  Mis- 
sions in  Japan "  has  been  repeatedly  re- 
ferred to  and  in  a  few  instances  quoted. 

More  than  to  any  one  else  outside   my 

own   family   I   am    indebted    to   Rev.   Dr. 

Griffis.      His   most   valuable    Introductory 

Note  is  but  one  of  many  ways  in  which  this 

book  has  been  enriched  by  his  wisdom  and 

experience.     The  spirit  of   brotherliness  in 

which   these   favors  were   bestowed,  I   can 

never  forget. 

M.  L.  G. 

Andover,  Mass. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE. 

By  his  direct,  manly,  and  outspoken  story 
of  missionary  life  in  Japan,  Dr.  Gordon  has 
made  a  contribution  to  the  literature  both 
of  knowledge  and  of  power.  The  infor- 
mation here  furnished  is  copious,  genuine, 
and  at  first  hand,  while  to  the  stimulus  of 
mind  and  heart  which  the  work  affords  the 
writer  of  this  note  gladly  testifies.  Familiar 
with  the  modern  library  of  books  on  Japan, 
both  of  the  standard  and  ephemeral  sort,  he 
ventures  the  prophecy  that  this  fruit  of  the 
pen  is  no  Jonah's  gourd.  Nor  is  it  the  re- 
port of  a  frightened  spy  brought  back  from 
a  land  of  promise;  it  is  rather  the  coura- 
geous asseveration  of  a  true  soldier  who,  in 
the  name  of  the  Great  Captain,  says  of  the 
land  in  view,  "  We  are  well  able  to  possess 
it."     Having  seen  and  weighed  difficulties, 


X  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

he  summons  us  to  the  front,  not  to  the  rear ; 
to  the  charge,  not  to  the  retreat. 

The  people  want  facts,  not  cant  or  fan- 
cies. Dullness  in  telling  the  missionary 
story  should  be  branded  as  a  sin.  The  pub- 
lic will  always  give  heed  to  the  man  who 
tells  what  he  saw,  not  what  he  went  out  to 
see.  Japan  is  not  a  reed  shaken  by  the 
wind ;  not  an  Oriental  merry-andrew,  or  an 
odalisque  clothed  in  soft  raiment  to  amuse 
the  sensual  tourist  or  writer ;  not  a  false 
prophet  whose  gospel  is  novelty  and  revolu- 
tion. A  nation  has  been  born,  seemingly 
in  a  day,  but  in  reality  only  after  long 
travail  of  prison-pain,  civil  war,  and  agony 
of  spirit.  Struggling  in  newness  of  life  to- 
ward a  lofty  ideal  undreamed  of  even  by 
the  men  of  the  Revolution  of  1868,  Japan  is 
yet  to  be,  under  Divine  Providence,  God's 
messenger  to  all  Asia.  Amid  the  crowd  of 
books  written  by  modern  Pharisees,  bigoted 
and  narrow-minded ;  by  Sadducean  lovers 
of  lust,  who  want  Japan  kept  pagan,  aesthe- 
tic, and  morally  cheap ;  by  hasty  scribblers 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE.  xi 

of  vapid  trash,  —  it  is  refreshing  to  meet  with 
the  literary  work  of  a  liberal  Christian,  who 
has  been  servant  and  fellow-worker  with  the 
serious  men  and  women  of  New  Japan.  He 
sees  the  truth  and  tells  it. 

The  writer  of  this  note  was  not  a  "  mis- 
sionary," in  the  technical  sense,  but  was  in 
the  educational  service  of  the  Japanese 
g'overnment.  All  the  more,  from  his  close 
personal  acquaintance  with  native  princes, 
statesmen,  and  the  young  men  who  are  now 
prominent  in  political  life,  had  he  opportu- 
nity to  know  of  the  noble  work  done  by  the 
American  missionaries  in  the  development  of 
the  nation.  Such  names  as  those  of  Brown, 
Hepburn,  Verbeck,  and  Greene,  are  not  only 
household  words  in  New  Japan,  but,  were  it 
not  the  violation  of  private  confidence,  the 
writer  could  show  how,  in  grave  crises  of 
state,  their  advice  was  sought  and  followed. 
Dr.  S.  R.  Brown  trained  some  of  the  very 
first  of  the  young  statesmen  of  New  Japan. 
Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn  has  healed  tens  of 
thousands  of  her  people.     Of  the  Imperial 


xii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

Embassy  that  made  tlie  circuit  of  the  globe 
and  of  Christendom  in  1872,  one  half  had 
been  Dr.  Verbeck's  pupils.  It  seems  more 
like  miracle  than  history  to  tell  that,  in 
Kyoto,  where  Yokoi  H^ishiro  was  in  1868 
assassinated  for  entertaining  Christian  con- 
victions, there  now  stand  Neesima's  Do- 
shisha  University  and  many  Christian 
churches ;  while  in  Tokyo,  the  son  of  Yokoi 
preaches  the  gospel,  both  as  pastor  and  edi- 
tor. To  find  in  the  first  Imperial  Diet  of 
constitutional  Japan  no  fewer  than  fifteen 
pronounced  Christian  men,  is  but  to  tell, 
in  another  way,  what  God  hath  wrought 
through  the  American  missionaries. 

For  these  men  have,  apart  from  their 
holy  calling,  done  a  mighty  work  in  the 
making  of  New  Japan.  Not  less  than  Mat- 
thew Perry  and  Townsend  Harris,  have  they 
incarnated  the  United  States  as  the  Great 
Pacific  Power.  They  have,  by  the  educa- 
tion of  their  Japanese  fellow-believers  in 
self-support,  in  parliamentary  training,  at 
church-meetings  and  in  ecclesiastical  conven- 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE.  xiii 

tions,  tanglit  them  the  arts  of  self-govern- 
ment. They  have  helped  mightily  to  prepare 
the  nation  for  the  responsibilities  of  free- 
dom and  the  duties  of  constitutional  politics. 
They  have  aided  Sovereign  and  Government 
to  maintain  social  order  in  a  trying  epoch, 
when  the  old  moulds  of  traditions  had  been 
broken,  and  the  ideals  and  sanctions  of  ages 
of  feudalism  were  passing  away.  When 
the  need  was  sorest,  they  brought  the  price- 
less boon  of  Christian  ethics.  They  taught 
and  illustrated  Christian  civilization  while 
preaching  Christ's  salvation. 

Yes,  grateful  must  all  be,  who  love  Christ 
more  than  tradition,  that  true  servants 
of  His,  like  the  author,  have  so  faithfully 
preached  the  good  news  of  God.  It  is 
Christ's  salvation,  rather  than  the  particular 
Yankee,  or  British,  or  other  temporary  form 
of  it,  which  they  have  declared.  "  And  to 
each  seed  a  body  of  its  own,"  has  been  their 
rule,  after  the  apostolical  model.  They 
have  let  the  Japanese  shape  their  own  the- 
ology.    When  most  the  servants,  they  have 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

been  consummate  masters.  Largely  through 
them,  it  may  be,  that,  under  Divine  Provi- 
dence, Christian  Japan  has  yet  much  to 
teach  us  of  "the  simplicity  that  is  in 
Christ." 

As  now  the  author's  enforced  absence  ends, 
and  he  turns  his  face  towards  the  sunset 
(yet  also  towards  Rising  Sun  Land),  to  take 
up  his  work  in  Kyoto,  we  wish  him  God- 
speed. May  he  and  all  the  American  mis- 
sionaries in  Japan  so  turn  many  to  righteous- 
ness that  when  they  rest  from  their  labors 
their  works  may  follow  them. 

WM.   ELLIOT  GRIFFIS. 
Boston  :  Shawmut  Chukch,  September  22,  1892. 


AN  AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  IN 
JAPAN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

"  Is  this  '  Japan '  on  your  trunk  the  Chi- 
nese Japan  ?  " 

"  Yes." 

"  Are  you  going  there  ?  " 

"Yes." 

A  pause. 

"  Going  out  in  government  employ  ?  " 

"No." 

Another  pause. 

"  Are  you  a  tea- merchant  ?  " 

"  I  am  not  a  tea-merchant." 

A  still  longer  pause. 

"  Going  out  in  a  missionary  capacity,  per- 
haps?" 

"  Yes." 

"  Oh,  then  you  don't  care  for  money." 


2  3riSSI0NARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

This  conversation  between  a  stranger  and 
the  writer,  while  waiting  for  the  train  at 
Council  Bluffs  twenty  years  ago,  well  illus- 
trates the  vagueness  which  prevails  in  the 
average  American  mind  in  regard  to  the 
missionary's  life  and  field  of  labor.  Even  a 
religious  journal  has  gravely  announced  that 

''  Rev.  Mr. has  gone  to  labor  in  China 

and  Japan,"  as  though  one  Oriental  nation 
were  not  a  sufficient  parish  for  an  able-bodied 
American.  And  my  interlocutor's  unhesi- 
tating belief  in  his  conclusion,  "then  you 
don't  care  for  money,"  —  is  it  not  expressive 
of  a  general  feeling  that  missionary  life  is  no 
more  nor  less  than  a  refuge  for  those  whose 
supreme  other-worldliness  would  else  neces- 
sitate their  immediate  translation  ? 

This  ideal,  which  is  so  common  among 
those  who  have  not  thoroughly  acquainted 
themselves  with  the  subject,  is  a  natural  re- 
sult of  the  early  history  of  modern  missions. 
Communication  with  unchristian  lands  was 
slow,  uncertain,  and  uncomfortable.  We 
knew  almost  nothing  about  Oriental  peoples, 
save  that  their  doors  were  shut  against  our 
religion,  and  that  they  murdered,  imprisoned, 
or  otherwise  maltreated  those  who  had  gone 
to  teach  it  to  them.     Men  who  cared  little 


HAPPIER   CONDITIONS.  3 

about  Christianity  and  nothing  about  "  the 
heathen,"  and  had  no  faith  whatever  in  mis- 
sions, were  often  ready  to  give  for  the  relief 
of  their  suffering  countrymen,  even  while 
railing  at  the  folly  of  their  undertaking. 
And  for  many  years  the  ground  of  the  most 
moving  appeals,  even  to  Christians,  was  not 
the  condition  of  the  unchristian  ^  world,  the 
wide-open  doors,  or  the  successes  already  at- 
tained :  it  was  the  hardships  of  the  mission- 
aries. 

This  period  has  long  since  passed  away, 
but  it  is  doubtless  still  as  a  rule  true  that 
the  young  missionary  goes  to  his  field  with 
the  thought  of  similar  trials  for  himself  and 
family  as  at  least  a  possibility.  If  destined 
for  Japan,  however,  he  finds  himself  in  his 
outward  journey  traveling  under  very  dif- 
ferent circumstances  from  those  of  Henry 
Martyn  or  William  Carey.  Instead  of  the 
former's  tedious  voyage  of  more  than  nine 
months    on    a   small,  imcomfortable  sailing 

^  As  is  well  known,  the  word  "  heathen  "  is  practically 
dropped  from  the  revised  version  of  the  New  Testament. 
Unchristian  peoples  justly  object  to  it  as  a  degrading 
term,  and  the  writer  joins  with  nearly  all  his  colleagues 
in  studiously  avoiding  its  use.  There  is  a  similar  dislike 
—  less  justifiable,  it  is  true  — to  the  word  "  native,"  and 
in  this  volume  that  word  also  is  avoided. 


4  MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

vessel,  lie  goes  on  a  swift  and  palatially  ap- 
pointed steamship,  reaching  his  destination 
perhaps  within  a  fortnight  of  his  departure 
from  his  native  land.  The  figure  used  since 
Carey's  time,  of  the  missionary's  going  down 
like  a  miner  to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  is  no 
longer  appropriate,  for  steam  and  electricity 
fairly  annihilate  the  time  and  distance 
which  would  otherwise  separate  him  from 
Christendom.  Japan,  as  a  member  of  the 
Universal  Postal  Union,  takes  his  letters 
almost  from  his  door,  and  brings  their  an- 
swers, as  speedily  as  steamships,  steam-cars, 
and  human  muscle  can  carry  them,  quite  to 
his  threshold:  and  the  telegraph,  with  the 
indispensable  Renter's  Agency,  keeps  him 
in  almost  hourly  contact  with  the  Western 
World. 

And  so  it  comes  about  that,  although  go- 
ing out  prepared  for  hardship,  he  finds  that 
the  lines  have  fallen  to  him  in  exceedingly 
pleasant  places.  He  is  not  without  his 
trials  and  difficulties,  and  often  they  seem 
so  new,  and  numerous,  and  varied,  that  they 
fairly  overwhelm  him.  But  even  in  these 
he  is  fortunate,  for,  as  we  shall  see,  they  do 
not  arise  from  a  lack  of  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life,  or  mainly  from  opposition, 


NO  PHYSICAL  HARDSHIPS.  5 

or  from  mental  and  moral  inertia  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  but  are  rather  the  signs 
and  results  of  the  success  given  himself 
and  his  associates.  They  are  fruits  of  the 
very  life  which  he  came  to  implant  and 
nourish.  The  nature  and  extent  of  these 
difficulties  will  appear  as  we  go  on ;  they 
are  referred  to  here  only  for  the  purpose  of 
saying  that,  however  great  and  varied  they 
may  be,  they  are  unworthy  to  be  compared 
with  the  privileges  which  his  life  brings 
him. 

The  society  which  sends  him  out  provides 
him  with  a  comfortable  house,  and  gives 
him  a  salary  which,  though  not  large,  is  suffi- 
cient for  his  modest  wants.  He  lives  in  "  a 
good  land,  a  land  of  brooks  of  water,  of 
fountains  and  depths  that  spring  out  of  val- 
leys and  hills."  Though  its  wealth  is  in- 
significant as  compared  with  that  of  Eng- 
land or  America,  and  though  it  is  not  lit- 
erally a  land  of  either  milk  or  honey,  Japan 
may  still  be  called  a  land  of  plenty.  The 
wants  of  the  people  are  few  and  simple,  and 
while,  in  the  rural  districts  especially,  the 
grade  of  living  is  low,  the  number  who  suf- 
fer for  lack  of  food  is  comparatively  small. 
Rains  are  almost  sure  to  come  abundantly 


6  MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

in  their  seasons ;  the  soil  is  rich  and  under 
a  high  state  of  cultivation ;  its  waters  teem 
with  excellent  fish ;  fruits  of  a  not  very  su- 
perior quality  are  found  in  the  market  every 
month  in  the  year  ;  except  in  the  north  and 
west,  the  climate  is  not  rigorous  ;  and  so 
famines  have  been  few  in  the  past,  and, 
with  increased  facilities  for  intercourse  both 
between  its  own  provinces  and  with  foreign 
lands,  will  be  fewer  still  in  the  future. 
There  are  multitudes  of  Japanese  whom 
Americans  would  call  poor ;  there  are  re- 
markably few  paupers. 

The  missionary  also  lives  in  a  land  of 
unique  beauty,  a  beauty  which  has  stamped 
itself  upon  the  art,  literature,  and  manners 
of  the  people.  It  has  begotten  in  even  the 
unlettered  rustic  a  love  for  flowers,  a  love 
for  natural  scenery,  a  poetic  and  artistic 
sense  unequaled  perhaps  in  any  other  peo- 
ple. The  frequent  exhibition  in  unexpected 
ways  of  this  love  of  the  beautiful  is  a  source 
of  no  small  pleasure  to  those  whose  lot  is 
cast  among  the  Japanese. 

The  climate  of  Japan  is  the  object  of  al- 
most constant  execration  by  many  residents. 
It  does  rain  occasionally,  especially  in  the 
rainy  season,  which  some  malicious  tongues 


CLIMATE  AND   CIVILIZATION.  7 

say  may  come  at  any  time  from  January  to 
December.  And  for  a  considerable  part  of 
the  summer  it  is  mushi-mushi-atsui,  steam- 
ing hot,  day  and  night,  in  a  way  difficult 
for  an  American  to  imagine.  But  after  all, 
unless  he  be  a  Calif ornian,  the  missionary  is 
pretty  sure  to  find  more  days  in  the  year  in 
which  out-door  life  is  both  possible  and 
pleasant  than  he  has  ever  before  known. 

In  the  winter,  on  the  eastern  coast,  where 
most  missionaries  reside,  there  is  very  little 
snow,  and  it  is  a  rare  day  that  the  mercury 
falls  below  18°  Fahrenheit.  In  the  spring 
the  U7ne  (plum),  momo  (peach),  the  tsu- 
tsiiji  (azalea),  the  unequaled  sakura  (cherry) 
and  a  host  of  other  flowers,  successively  lend 
their  hues  to  the  mountain  sides  ;  and  the 
valleys  which  nestle  between  them  —  green 
seas  of  growing  wheat  dotted  with  islands  of 
the  brilliant,  golden  rape  —  make  a  picture 
which,  once  seen,  is  never  forgotten.  And 
then  the  autumn !  where  are  there  brighter 
days,  or  balmier  skies,  or  more  bewitching 
sunsets ! 

The  missionary  in  Japan  is  fortunate  also 
in  that  he  lives  not  among  a  rude,  barbarous, 
or  half-civilized  race,  but  in  the  midst  of  a 
people  with  a   high  degree  of   civilization, 


8  MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

a  people  possessing  in  fact  two  civilizations. 
One  of  these  is  far  older  and  more  formal 
than  his  own;  the  other  is  an  attempt  to 
appropriate,  under  the  advice  of  experts,  all 
that  is  best  in  his  own.  The  older,  charac- 
terized by  marked  defects  which  the  Jap- 
anese themselves  are  very  ready  to  recog- 
nize, also  possesses  excellencies  which  each 
succeeding  year  of  residence  enables  the 
foreigner  the  more  clearly  to  see  and  appre- 
ciate. Carpenters,  cabinet-makers,  coopers, 
blacksmiths,  masons,  all  skillful  after  their 
manner,  wait  to  minister  to  his  comfort  and 
convenience.  The  weaver,  the  painter,  the 
wood-carver,  and  the  brasier,  delight  his  eye 
and  tempt  his  purse  by  their  inimitable  pro- 
ductions. There  are  dexterous  penmen  to 
write  down  his  thoughts ;  even  before  the 
recent  introduction  of  movable  type,  there 
were  printers  to  print  them,  and  booksellers 
who,  after  the  edicts  against  Christianity 
were  abrogated,  were  ready  to  scatter  them 
throughout  the  land.  When  he  travels  he 
finds  hotels  everywhere ;  and  while  they  can- 
not compete  with  American  hotels  either  in 
comforts  or  prices,  to  the  weary  and  hungry 
traveler  who  is  ready  when  in  Kome  to  do 
as  the  Romans  do,  they  are  often  both  invit- 
ing and  refreshing. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  PEOPLE.      9 

The  newly  adopted  civilization  greatly  in- 
creases these  comforts  and  conveniences. 
The  railway,  the  steamship,  and  the  tele- 
graph are  in  many  places  all  at  his  service. 
The  letter-carrier  passes  his  door  a  half- 
dozen  times  a  day.  At  night  the  streets 
are  lighted  by  kerosene,  gas,  or  it  may  be 
by  electricity.  The  incomparable Ji^zriX'isAa 
waits  at  his  gate  to  carry  him  swiftly  and 
comfortably  to  any  part  of  city  or  country. 
Such  rides  as  that  from  Miyadzu  along  the 
seashore  towards  Kyoto,  and  that  over  the 
road  which  skirts  the  Bay  of  Tsuruga,  on 
the  way  to  Fukui,  as  one  recalls  them,  seem 
like  a  dream  of  beauty. 

But,  after  all,  the  greatest  attraction  in 
Japan  is  its  people.  They  are,  many  of 
them,  attractive  for  what  they  are,  attrac- 
tive for  what  they  need  and  for  their  will- 
ingness to  receive,  and  attractive  for  their 
possibilities  as  a  people.  Their  patriotism, 
their  politeness,  their  refinement,  their  im- 
pidsiveness,  their  sunny  temper,  their  simpli- 
city, their  friendliness,  so  charm  the  visitor 
or  sojourner  among  them,  that  he  finds  him- 
self unwilling  to  become  their  critic,  or  to 
write  freely  of  the  darker  side  of  the  picture. 

The  missionary  sees,  both  in  these  excel- 


10         MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

lencies  and  defects,  their  need  of  Christ,  and 
the  opportunity  of  His  Church;  and  while 
recognizing  the  fact  that  Christianity  has 
not  yet  borne  perfect  fruit  in  America, 
Europe,  or  anywhere,  he  leaves  the  work  of 
the  more  complete  Christianization  of  his 
native  land  to  the  thousands  able  and  will- 
ing to  engage  in  it,  and  joyfully  and  hope- 
fully casts  in  his  lot  with  the  comparatively 
few  laborers  in  Japan.  He  is  joyful  be- 
cause of  his  favorable  surroundings,  the 
glorious  message  which  he  bears,  and  the 
immediate  success  which  is  given  him  ;  hope- 
ful because  of  his  faith  in  the  power  of  the 
gospel  and  the  possibilities  of  the  people, 
the  evidences  of  whose  quickened  and  vig- 
orous life  he  sees  on  every  hand. 

As  has  already  been  intimated,  besides 
the  "detested  exile  from  his  native  land,"  — 
to  use  the  expressive  words  of  a  Yokohama 
editor,  —  which  one  who  spends  his  life  in  a 
foreign  land  necessarily  undergoes,  and  the 
pain  of  family  separation,  which  words  can- 
not exaggerate,  the  missionary  has  no  hard- 
ships or  privations  which  call  for  the  con- 
secration usually  associated  with  his  work. 
If  these  hardships  be  made  an  essential  ele- 
ment of  the  missionary  life,  then  we  in  Japan 


SUPERFICIAL   CRITICISM.  11 

are,  as  we  often  say,  unworthy  of  the  name. 
Herein  is  an  unrecognized  cause  of  much 
of  the  unfavorable  criticism  of  missionaries 
with  which  sea  captains  and  others  who  visit 
Eastern  lands  periodically  regale  the  public.^ 
They  assume  the  identity  of  the  missionary 
life  with  physical  discomfort,  and  that  iins- 
sionary  funds  are  raised  to  relieve  the  suf- 
fering missionaries  ;  and  so,  if  they  find  them 
living  in  comfortable  houses  and  decently 
clothed,  they  rate  them  all  hypocrites,  as 
they  certainly  would  be  were  the  above  as- 
sumptions true.  Such  people  never  look 
into  the  missionary's  work.  They  do  not 
take  time  to  examine  whether  he  is  fairly 
well  qualified  for  it,  and  is  zealously  engaged 
in  it,  or  not ;  the  mere  fact  that  he  is  not 
living  uncomfortably  is  enough  to  set 

"  The  little  dogs  and  all, 
Tray,  Blanche,  and  Sweetheart," 

barking. 

It  is  not  here  contended  that  there  are  no 
individuals  who  are  fair  subjects  of  criticism, 

'  1  A  large  part  of  the  critieisni  o£  missionaries  and  their 
work  is  really  based  upon  an  utter  disbelief  in  the  religion 
of  Christ  itself,  an  antagonism  to  it  both  in  spirit  and  in 
life,  and  can  therefore  have  no  validity  in  the  eyes  of 
Christians.  There  is  no  occasion  to  meet  such  criticism 
in  a  book  like  this. 


12  MISSIONARY  LIFE  IN  JAPAN. 

but  it  is  maintained  that  missionaries  as  a 
body  are  living  in  unselfish  devotion  to  the 
cause  for  which  they  were  sent  out,  and  that 
they  are  meeting  with  corresponding  success. 
Whenever  visitors  examine  the  work  done 
and  doing,  the  favorable  verdict  is  practi- 
cally unanimous.  It  is  substantially  that  of 
Canon  Tristram,  which  I  find  in  a  news- 
paper as  I  write :  "  Of  all  I  have  seen  I  can 
only  say  the  half  was  not  told  me.  The 
solid  reality  of  the  work  far  surpassed  my 
expectations." 

But  because  the  missionary  in  Japan  has 
few  or  no  physical  privations  to  endure,  it 
must  not  be  concluded  that  consecration  is 
not  required  for  his  work.  He  will  find 
need  for  all  he  possesses,  and  more,  too ;  but 
it  will  be  to  meet  intellectual  and  spiritual 
difficulties.  These  difficulties  are  incident 
to  the  bringing  of  the  gospel  close  to  the 
hearts  and  lives  of  those  who  are  so  different 
from  himself  in  language,  thought,  and  tra- 
ditions, and  the  planting  of  the  church  of 
Christ  among  an  independent  and  highly 
sensitive  people. 

The  wise  missionary  is  content  to  be,  as 
he  has  been  called  by  them,  the  "  guest  "  of 
the   Japanese,  their  "helper,"    the   "John 


ONLY   A  HELPER.  13 

Baptist  who  decreases  while  they  increase," 
in  no  wise  seeking  to  have  dominion  over 
their  faith,  but  always  ready  to  be  simply 
a  helper  of  their  faith,  knowledge,  and  joy. 
Pie  who  takes  this  subordinate  position  will- 
ingly and  gracefully  on  all  occasions,  ever 
believing,  hoping,  and  enduring  all  things, 
is  not  likely  to  be  troubled  by  any  surplus 
consecration.  If,  however,  he  can  stand  this 
severest  of  tests,  he  will  find  his  work  and 
life  such  a  continual  joy  that  he  will  be 
able  to  say  of  it  what  Bishop  Phillips  Brooks 
has  said  of  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  gen- 
eral :  "  In  a  world  where  there  are  a  great 
many  good  and  happy  things  to  do,  God  has 
given  us  the  best  and  happiest." 


CHAPTER  II. 

"MASTERING  THE   LANGUAGE." 

The  young  missionary  starts  to  liis  field 
filled  with  enthusiasm,  and  elated  by  the 
thought  of  preaching  Christ's  salvation  to 
those  who  have  never  heard  the  good  news 
of  God.  He  may  not  actually  entertain  the 
idea  so  commonly  held  at  home,  that  his 
first  work  on  landing  will  be  to  repeat  the 
"  old,  old  story  "  to  the  astonished  but  re- 
ceptive natives  as  they  kneel  in  homage  at 
his  feet.  He  may  think  of  his  lack  of  know- 
ledge of  the  language  as  an  obstacle  to  im- 
mediate preaching.  But  he  has  doubtless 
been  encouraged  to  regard  this  obstacle  as 
of  a  very  temporary  character,  and  he  in- 
dulges the  pleasing  hope  that  a  few  weeks, 
or  a  few  months  at  the  farthest,  will  find  him 
"  speaking  like  a  native." 

When  he  reaches  his  destination,  however, 
his  complacency  receives  a  terrible  shock. 
Geographically  speaking,  he  is  now  near  the 
people  whom  he  hopes  to  teach ;  but,  as  far 


AN  ALPINE  BARRIER.  15 

as  actual  teaching  is  concerned,  a  broader 
ocean  than  the  Pacific  still  rolls  between  him 
and  them.  As  he  listens  to  the  shouts  of 
the  boatmen  who  crowd  around  his  ship,  or 
the  chattering  of  the  jinrikisha  men  while 
they  draw  lots  for  the  privilege  of  carrying 
him  to  his  hotel,  he  understands,  as  never 
before,  why  the  Russians  call  foreigners 
"  the  dumb,"  "  the  speechless,"  and  say  even 
of  modern  English  travelers,  "  Look  at 
these  people !  they  make  a  noise  but  cannot 
speak ; "  and  he  is  ready,  without  further 
investigation,  to  call  the  Japanese  "  bar- 
barians," in  the  sense  that  the  Greeks  used 
the  word  harbaros,  that  is,  as  designating 
all  who  spoke  a  language  unintelligible  to 
themselves.  The  language,  the  language, 
—  what  an  Alpine  barrier  to  all  communi- 
cation with  the  people  he  would  teach ! 

There  are,  it  is  true,  a  few  —  a  gradually 
increasing  number  —  who  understand  Eng- 
lish, and,  eager  for  immediate  results,  he 
may  confine  himself  to  these  ;  or  he  may  use 
one  of  these  English-speaking  Japanese  as 
an  "  interrnpter "  in  preaching  to  others. 
With  the  American  theological  student  who 
felt  that  he  had  "  a  special  call  to  labor 
among  educated  young  ladies  "  as  a  prece- 


16    ''MASTERING   THE  LANGUAGE:' 

dent,  why  should  he  not  choose  some  such 
restricted  work?  Or  he  may  imitate  the 
example  of  Scotland's  most  famous  mission- 
ary to  the  Chinese,  who,  even  before  he 
reached  his  destination,  attempted  to  teach 
the  doctrine  of  the  atonement  to  the  boat- 
men who  came  alongside  the  ship,  by  going 
through  the  motions  of  washing  a  garment. 
But,  if  he  be  too  wise  to  depend  upon  such 
imperfect  methods,  he  will  —  unless  he  has 
gone  there  for  some  special  work,  such  as  the 
teaching  of  English  —  determine  that  even 
the  Alps  shall  not  keep  him  out  of  Italy ; 
and  so,  procuring  the  best  books  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  engaging  the  best  available  living 
teacher,  he  will  tackle  the  language  in  real 
earnest. 

And  this  will  seem  but  the  beginning  of 
his  troubles.  If  he  secure  a  teacher  who 
understands  English,  he  will  find  himself 
talking  in  English  about  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage ;  learning  something  of  the  science  of 
the  language  perhaps,  but  making  little  or 
no  progress  in  the  art  of  speaking  it.  Most 
probably  he  will  be  teaching  ten  times  as 
much  English  to  his  "  teacher  "  as  he  learns 
Japanese  from  him.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
he  employ  a  teacher  who  knows  no  English, 


LEARNING   TO   TALK.  17 

the  result  will  be  two  persons  together  in  a 
room  with  no  knowledge  of  each  other's 
language,  and  no  means  of  communication 
except  signs  and  a  Japanese-English  dic- 
tionary, striving  to  see  which  can  the  sooner 
tire  out  and  disgust  the  other. 

Our  friend  begins  in  a  concrete  way  by 
inquiring  the  names  of   the  most  familiar 
things  about  the  house,  using  the  one  sen- 
tence given   him   by   an   older  missionary, 
Koi^e  wa  nani  to  moshimasu  ka  ("  What  is 
this?")     In  answer  to  this  question  he  is 
told  that  the   rice   on   the   table  is  called 
mesJiL     (All  vowels,  it  should  be  remarked, 
have  the  Continental  pronunciation.)    Rejoi- 
cing in  this  knowledge,  he  begins  making 
sentences :  "  I  eat  mesUy     "  The  little  child 
likes  meshV    "No,"  says  his  mentor ;  "in 
speaking  of  a  child's  rice,  it  is  better  to  use 
the  word  mama  ;  '  the  child  likes  mama'  '* 
Undiscouraged,    the    student    tries    again: 
"  Do   you   eat   meski  f "   when   his  teacher 
stops   him,  and  tells  him  that  it  is  polite, 
in  speaking  to  another  of  his  having  or  eat- 
ing  rice,  to   call  it  gozen.     Having  taken 
this  in,  he  goes  on  with  his  sentence-build- 
ing :    "  The   merchant    sells   gozen,'"    when 
the  teacher  again  calls  a  halt,  and  tells  him 


18  "MASTERING    THE  LANGUAGE.'' 

that  mesJii  and  gozen  are  used  for  cooked 
rice  only,  and  that  for  unboiled  rice  kome  is 
the  proper  word.  Feeling  that  he  is  now 
getting  into  the  secrets  of  the  language,  he 
says,  "  Kome  grows  in  the  fields,"  when  he 
is  again  stopped  with  the  information  that 
growing  rice  is  called  ine  ! 

He  next  picks  up  a  carpenter's  rule,  and 
is  told  that  the  foot  measure  is  called  sJiaku, 
He  is  glad  to  find  that  it  is  just  about  twelve 
inches  in  length,  but  is  nonplussed  when  he 
learns  that  the  tailor's  shaku  measures  fif- 
teen inches.  His  perplexity  increases  on 
finding  that  when  he  sends  for  akin  (pound) 
of  beef  he  gets  five  sixths  of  an  avoirdupois 
pound  ;f  if  he  send  for  a  ki7i  of  flour,  he 
gets  one  and  one  third  pounds  ;  while,  if  he 
purchase  a  ki?i  of  sugar,  it  is  within  a  small 
fraction  of  two  pounds.  In  starting  on  a 
journey  he  is  told  that  one  ri  is  equal  to  two 
and  one  half  English  miles  ;  but  if,  in  pass- 
ing through  certain  districts,  he  be  puzzled 
because  of  the  unexpectedly  long  distances, 
he  may  be  told  that  there  it  takes  three  and 
a  half  miles  to  make  a  ri.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  ascending  Fuji  and  other  mountains 
the  traveler  often  finds  that  the  real  dis- 
tance is  only  about  one  half  of  that  marked 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THE  LANGUAGE.  19 

on  the  milestones,  because,  as  he  is  gravely 
told,  the  ascent  requires  a  double  amount  of 
exertion.  He  finds  all  of  the  provinces  and 
some  cities  with  two  names  each,  and  the 
country  now  divided  into  prefectures,  with 
still  different  names ;  while,  till  very  re- 
cently, the  main  island  of  Japan  had  no 
name  whatever! 

Filled  with  dismay  and  despair  at  the 
confusion  into  which  his  teacher  has  intro- 
duced him,  he  turns  for  relief  to  the  books 
on  the  language  prepared  by  European 
scholars,  and  reads  for  his  encouragement, 
from  the  latest  authority  upon  the  subject, 
such  sentences  as  these :  "  Japanese  nouns 
have  no  gender  or  number ;  Japanese  adjec- 
tives, no  degrees  of  comparison  ;  Japanese 
verbs,  no  persons."  "  Strictly  speaking,  there 
are  but  two  parts  of  speech."  "  The  prepo- 
sitions are  postpositions."  "  Most  sentences 
are  subjectless;  it  is  not  that  the  subjects 
are  dropped,  but  still,  '  understood '  as  in 
other  languages,  they  do  not  exist  in  the 
mind  of  the  speaker."  "  The  Japanese  lan- 
guage abhors  pronouns."  "  The  verb  is  often 
omitted."  "  The  normal  Japanese  sentence 
is  a  paragraph."  The  order  of  the  words  is 
often  the  exact  reverse  of  that  in  English ; 


20  '' MASTERING   THE  LANGUAGE." 

thus,  "  to  give  rice  to  a  beggar  "  would  in 
Japanese  be  hojiki  ni  meslii  wo  yaru^  "  beg- 
gar to  rice  give."  Still  further,  "  the  Japan- 
ese do  not  write  as  they  speak,  but  use  an 
antiquated  and  partly  artificial  dialect  when- 
ever they  put  pen  to  paper." 

This  last  remark  does  not  encourage  him 
to  cross  the  border  between  the  spoken  and 
the  written  languages ;  but  if  he  would  really 
reach  the  Japanese  people,  necessity  is  laid 
upon  him  to  know  how  to  read  as  well  as  to 
speak.  Let  us  follow  him  as  he  enters  this 
new  field  of  conquest. 

He  finds  that  the  Chinese  ideographs  were 
introduced  into  Japan  in  one  of  the  early 
Christian  centuries,  and  that  previously  the 
Japanese  probably  had  no  written  language. 
The  knowledge  of  these  ideographs  places  all 
Chinese  literature  at  the  service  of  the  Jap- 
anese scholar ;  while,  by  various  combinations 
of  these  characters  with  forty-eight  syllables 
which  are  themselves  abbreviations  of  Chi- 
nese characters  made  in  the  ninth  century,  a 
voluminous  Japanese  literature  more  or  less 
easily  understood  is  produced.  The  learner 
is  encouraged  by  the  assurance  that  while 
"  the  number  of  the  Chinese  characters  ex- 
ceeds eighty  thousand,"  and  there  are  three 


THE   CHINESE  ELEMENT.  21 

ways  of  pronouncing  and  an  equal  number 
of  modes  of  writing  each  one,  "five  or  six 
thousand  characters  is  a  number  sufficiently 
large  to  answer  all  the  practical  purposes  of 
life,"  and  that  their  study,  "  if  pursued  reg- 
ularly and  methodically,  will  prove  not  the 
least  interesting  and  fascinating  part  in  the 
acquisition  of  the  Japanese  language  "  ! 

The  Chinese  language  has  never  been 
spoken  in  Japan,  but  with  the  ideographs 
were  introduced  a  vast  multitude  of  Chinese 
words.  These  have  been  incorporated  into 
the  Japanese  language  without  changing  its 
structure,  and  now  outnumber  the  native 
words.  These  Chinese  -  Japanese  words  — 
that  is,  Japanese  pronunciations  of  Chinese 
characters  —  are  short,  forcible,  easily  admit 
of  combination,  and  are  used  especially  for 
scientific,  philosophical,  and  technical  terms. 
They  form  also  the  chief  part  of  the  conver- 
sational vocabulary  of  scholars.  In  many 
cases  they  have  displaced  the  pure  Japanese 
words  even  in  the  mouths  of  the  common 
people. 

One  confusing  result  of  this  is  that  there 
are  at  least  two  names  for  almost  every  thing 
and  place,  and  two  ways  for  expressing 
every  idea.     For  example,  the   name   of  a 


22  ''MASTERING   THE  LANGUAGES 

city  which  the  writer  recently  visited  is 
written  .with  two  Chinese  characters  which 
mean  "  to  dance,"  and  "  crane."  The  mean- 
ing of  these  characters  gives  the  pure  Jap- 
anese (and  most  widely  known)  name  Mai- 
dzuru ;  while  the  pronunciation  gives  the 
Chinese-Japanese  name  Buhaku^  which  is 
much  used  by  people  of  that  vicinity.  The 
double  names  of  provinces,  already  referred 
to,  such  as  Choshu  and  Nagaio^  have  a 
similar  explanation.  It  is  only  American 
writers  ignorant  of  this  fact  who  speak  of 
the  daimyo  of  this  province  as  "Nagato, 
Prince  of  Choshu."  This  doubling  of  words 
extends  to  the  commonest  things.  Thus 
"parents"  may  be  q\\\\gv  futa-oya  (Japa- 
nese) or  ryosJiin  (Chinese). 

Enough  has  been  said  concerning  the  Jap- 
anese language  to  enable  the  reader  to  ap- 
preciate the  remark  of  "  A  Japanese  Boy  :  " 
"  The  Japanese  language  has  not  been  sys- 
tematized ;  should  one  attempt  it  he  would 
find  it  a  tremendous  task:  after  my  dabbling 
in  languages,  in  Japanese  I  prefer  to  be 
taught  like  a  babe."  He  will  also  under- 
stand how  it  is  that  the  tyro  in  its  study 
falls  into  many  ludicrous  and  grievous  blun- 
ders.    A  lady  friend  who  was  trying  to  tell 


LUDICROUS  BLUNDERS.  23 

of  a  calamity  in  India  really  said  that  "  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven  were  suffering  a  sore 
famine,"  having  used  tenkohu  instead  of 
tenjiku.  Another  friend,  intending  to  buy 
a  meat-broiler,  asked  for  a  cat-broiler,  not 
distinguishing  between  niku  and  neko.  An- 
other is  said  to  have  called  for  a  bath  of 
mizu  ame.,  a  syrup  made  of  malt,  when  he 
intended  to  say  ame  mizu  (more  correctly 
amamizu)  that  is,  rain  water.  A  lady  want- 
ing some  onions  was  understood  by  the  cook 
to  order  "  a  Shinto  priest  served  up  for 
dinner ; "  the  word  in  both  cases  being  neg% 
with  scarcely  an  appreciable  difference  in 
the  pronunciation. 

I  would  not  for  a  moment  be  understood 
as  despising  or  depreciating  the  Japanese 
language.  It  has  of  course  a  philosophy  of 
its  own,  however  much  it  may  refuse  to 
adapt  itself  to  alien  systems.  It  has  few 
harsh  or  difficult  sounds.  With  its  abun- 
dance of  vowels  it  is  smooth  and  musical, 
and  the  richness  of  even  its  purely  native 
vocabulary  is  truly  marvelous.  As  spoken 
by  some  of  our  Christian  preachers,  or  by 
educated  Japanese  ladies,  with  all  its  wealth 
of  polite  and  refined  expressions,  it  is  a  de- 
light to  hear. 


24  ''MASTERING   THE  LANGUAGE:' 

"It  is  still  doubtful  to  what  family  of 
languages  the  Japanese  belongs.  In  struc- 
ture, though  not  to  any  appreciable  extent 
in  vocabulary,  it  closely  resembles  Korean ; 
and  both  it  and  Korean  may  possibly  be  re- 
lated to  Mongol  and  to  Manchu,  and  may 
therefore  claim  to  be  included  in  the  Altaic 
group.  Be  this  as  it  may,  Japanese  is  what 
philologists  term  an  agglutinative  language ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  builds  up  its  words  and 
grammatical  forms  by  means  of  suffixes 
loosely  soldered  to  the  root  or  stem,  which  is 
invariable."  ^ 

The  Chinese  literature  introduced  into  Ja- 
pan is  very  voluminous,  including  works  on 
medicine  and  other  sciences,  history,  mor- 
als, and  religion.  There  are  Japanese  works 
extant  which  antedate  the  English  king  Al- 
fred. I  once  asked  a  friend,  a  Buddhist 
priest,  for  the  names  of  some  books  with 
which  to  begin  the  study  of  his  religion. 
He  brought  a  list  of  about  two  hundred  vol- 
umes. One  work  on  Japanese  history  num- 
bers over  one  hundred  volumes.  Mr.  E. 
M.  Satow  classifies  Japanese  literature  uii- 

1  Professor  B.  H.  Chamberlain  of  the  Imperial  Univer- 
sity of  Japan,  an  authoritative  writer  already  quoted  in 
this  chapter. 


TIME  REQUIRED  FOR  MASTERY.         25 

der  seventeen  heads.  But  in  this  he  leaves 
untouched  the  literature  of  the  new  life 
which  has  so  recently  burst  forth  in  Japan, 
—  a  life  which  has  transformed  the  nation's 
ideas  upon  almost  every  subject.  When 
the  writer  went  to  Japan,  there  was  but  one 
newspaper  published  in  Japanese,  and  that 
was  edited  and  published  by  a  foreigner. 
Now  there  are  hundreds  of  periodicals,  aU  of 
which  abound  in  ideas  and  words  unknown 
twenty  years  ago.  This  has  resulted  in  not 
only  a  new  literature,  but  a  new  language 
for  the  new  nation. 

What  has  been  said  will  illustrate  the 
linguistic  burden  that  the  missionary  in  Ja- 
pan has  to  struggle  under.  More  than  one 
thorough  scholar  in  the  European  languages 
has  declared  that  "the  Japanese  is  the  most 
difficult  language  in  the  world."  Another 
has  said  that  "  one  can  learn  to  understand 
as  much  of  Spanish  in  six  montlrs  as  he  can 
of  Japanese  in  six  years."  It  will  not  be 
thought  strange,  then,  that  one  of  the  most 
experienced  and  scholarly  of  the  missionaries 
recently  gave  to  a  company  of  his  younger 
associates  the  following  recipe  for  "  master- 
ing the  language  : "  "  Stay  twenty  years  in 
the  country ; "  or  that  the  Protestant  mis- 


26  "MASTERING  THE  LANGUAGE." 

sionaries  of  Central  Japan  have  unanimously 
resolved  that,  "  whether  we  regard  the  mis- 
sionary's health,  his  efficiency  as  a  worker, 
or  his  ability  to  work  harmoniously  with  the 
Japanese  brethren,  it  is  our  opinion  that  his 
highest  and  most  permanent  success  demands 
that  for  a  period  of  at  least  three  years  he 
should  not  be  expected  to  take  any  responsi- 
ble charge,  but  should  give  his  whole  time 
and  strength  to  the  work  of  securing  a 
knowledge  of  the  language  and  people." 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   STUDY   OF   THE  PEOPLE. 

The  last  thought  of  the  preceding  chapter 
gives  us  the  theme  of  this.  We  saw  what  a 
heavy  burden  the  study  of  the  language  is, 
and  were  perhaps  wondering  why  the  Pente- 
costal gift  of  tongues  is  not  continued  so 
long  as  there  are  peoples  to  disciple  for 
Christ.  Many  have  wished  and  prayed  that 
it  might  be  so  ;  and  yet  in  this,  also.  Wisdom 
justifies  herself  in  the  eyes  of  her  experi- 
enced children.  A  veteran  of  India  is  said 
always  to  have  parted  from  the  new  recruits 
who  were  passing  inland  to  their  work  with 
the  words,  "  Good-by.  I  pray  you  may  do 
no  harm."  Each  succeeding  year  brings  a 
fuller  appreciation  of  the  appropriateness  of 
this  remark.  One  reason  why  the  mission- 
aries in  Central  Japan  recommend  that  "  for 
a  period  of  three  years  the  missionary  should 
not  be  expected  to  take  any  responsible 
charge  "  is  the  danger,  on  the  part  of  those 
who   are   unacquainted  with   the   Japanese 


28     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

people,  of  unwittingly  offending  them,  and 
so  injuring  the  very  cause  they  wish  to 
build  up. 

The  Japanese  are  our  antipodes.  They 
are  Orientals,  we  Occidentals ;  they  are 
Asiatics,  we  Europeans.  They  belong  to 
the  Mongolian  race,  we  are  of  the  Aryan. 
Living  upon  the  opposite  side  of  the  world, 
they  see  the  reverse  side  of  the  shield  to  us, 
and  in  thought  and  life  approach  almost 
everything  from  the  opposite  direction. 
Their  carpenters  pull  their  planes  and  saws 
towards  themselves,  instead  of  pushing  them 
as  do  ours.  They  tie  their  horses'  heads  to 
what  we  should  call  the  back  of  the  stall, 
and  mount  from  the  right  instead  of  the  left 
side.  "  They  speak  backwards,  write  back- 
wards, read  backwards."  The  left  side  is 
more  honorable  than  the  right ;  the  best 
room  is  in  the  rear  of  the  house ;  and  "  they 
begin  to  enter  a  house,  not  by  removing 
their  hats,  but  by  taking  off  their  shoes." 
White  garments,  not  black,  are  the  symbols 
of  mourning  with  them,  and  laughter  is 
more  common  at  a  funeral  than  weeping. 
We  are  the  youngest  of  the  nations,  and  the 
most  unceremonious  of  peoples.  They  have 
one  of  the  oldest  of  civilizations,  one  utterly 


SACREDNESS   OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL.     29 

alien  to  ours,  and  an  exceedingly  formal  and 
elaborate  code  of  politeness  which  is  an  in- 
tegral part  of  their  national  life. 

The  young  missionary  may  go  with  well- 
grounded  confidence  that  in  morals  and  re- 
ligion he  has  a  message  for  the  Japanese. 
He  is  justified  also  in  thinking  that  in 
regard  to  education,  medicine,  hygiene,  do- 
mestic life,  and  other  important  matters  he 
may  render  them  a  service.  But  if  he  go 
with  the  idea  that  all  wisdom  is  in  the  Occi- 
dent he  is  laboring  under  a  delusion.  If  he 
expect  that,  without  waiting  to  learn  any- 
thing of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
people,  he  can  at  once  mount  the  teacher's 
rostrum  and  pour  streams  of  wisdom  down 
the  throats  of  an  admiring  throng,  he  is  very 
sure  to  be  disappointed. 

Every  human  soul,  by  the  very  fact  of  its 
individual  personality,  has  a  sacredness  which 
it  rightfully  withholds  from  the  rude  gaze  of 
the  world.  Manners  and  customs  are  one 
great  means  of  guarding  this  sacred  and 
mysterious  personality.  He  who  disregards 
them  is  like  the  man  who  forces  himself 
unbidden  and  unannounced  into  my  parlor. 
He  is  in  the  worst  possible  position  to  secure 
»   favor  from  me.     Upon  the  threshold  of 


30  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

the  soul,  even  the  hearer  of  truth  and  grace 
must  reverently  pause  to  seek  and  secure  its 
goodwill  if  he  would  find  a  welcome  for 
himself  and  his  message.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  missionary  must  recognize  in 
every  one  whom  he  would  help  one  equally 
with  himself  a  child  of  God,  needing  and 
capable  of  receiving  the  divinely  offered 
salvation.  But  he  must  also  recognize  and 
respect  the  sacredness  of  the  individual.  So 
far  as  is  possible,  he  must  enter  into  sympa- 
thy with  him  and  adapt  his  message  to  his 
condition.  This  is  what  Paul  meant  by 
becoming  "  all  things  to  all  men."  It  is  the 
underlying  principle  of  the  Incarnation,  for 
"  since  the  children  are  sharers  in  flesh  and 
blood.  He  also  in  like  manner  partook  of 
the  same."  "It  behooved  Him  in  all  things 
to  be  made  like  unto  His  brethren."  We 
know  how  He  made  himself  "  the  friend  of 
sinners."  His  parables  are  an  incontroverti- 
ble witness  to  His  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  people  among 
whom  He  lived.  How  can  the  missionary 
think  lightly  of  this  knowledge  in  the  face 
of  His  thirty  years  of  preparation  for  His 
work  ?  Adaptation  is,  indeed,  the  great  law 
of  successful  evangelistic  work  everywhere, 


IMPORTANCE   OF  COURTESY.  31 

but  it  is  especially  important  in  Eastern 
lands,  where  manners  are  often  rated  higher 
than  morals.  I  have  been  told  of  the  visit 
of  an  American  traveler  to  a  mission  school 
in  China.  The  boys  had  been  apprised  be- 
forehand of  the  high  character,  attainments, 
and  position  of  their  visitor,  and  when  he 
entered  they  all  arose  and  made  him  a  most 
profound  bow.  For  some  reason,  perhaps 
simply  because  such  a  courtesy  is  not  cus- 
tomary in  European  countries,  this  urbane 
Christian  gentleman  took  no  notice  of  their 
salutation,  but  began  at  once  to  address  them 
upon  the  excellencies  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. "  But,"  my  informant  went  on  to  say, 
"  his  words  were  completely  robbed  of  their 
power  by  this  one  act  of  rudeness." 

Ignorance  of  the  people,  and  a  carelessness 
born  of  ignorance,  often  offends  in  this  way. 
How  my  face  has  burned  as  American  trav- 
elers have  come  into  my  recitation-room  in 
the  Doshisha  College,  and,  before  a  class  of 
English-speaking  Japanese,  have  asked  such 
questions  as  "  Do  you  find  the  Japanese  apt 
to  learn  ?  "  "  Are  they  equal  intellectually 
to  the  people  of  India?"  "Do  they  become 
real  Christians  ?  "  "  Are  they  not  fickle  ?  '* 
etc.     Even  where  there  is  unquestionably 


32  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PEOPLE, 

great  kindness  of  heart,  a  careless  inconsid- 
erateness  is  often  extremely  offensive.  Years 
ago  an  American  just  out  of  college  was 
eni2:)loyed  as  a  teacher  by  a  provincial  gov- 
ernment. There  were  an  unusual  number 
of  noble  families  in  the  city  in  which  he 
taught,  and  they  and  the  local  officials 
showed  the  young  foreigner  the  most  dis- 
tinguished consideration.  He,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  utter  disregard  of  Japanese  eti- 
quette, treated  these  noblemen  as  one  college 
boy  might  treat  another.  He  knew  a  little 
of  the  language,  and  would  use  imperative 
forms  of  verbs  which  the  Japanese  employ 
only  in  addressing  culprits  and  menials. 
He  used  sukoshi  mate,  about  like  our 
"  Hold  on,  there !  "  to  the  governor  of  the 
province.  Having  made  an  appointment  to 
meet  a  young  nobleman  at  a  hotel  one  morn- 
ing, he  was  told  on  arrival  that  his  friend 
was  still  sleeping.  Without  waiting  to  be 
announced  he  rushed  upstairs,  pushed  back 
the  sliding  doors,  and  with  a  vigorous  punch 
of  his  umbrella  called  upon  the  sleeper  to 
"  Get  up  !  "  Years  afterward,  when  this 
nobleman  would  tell  the  story  and  recall  his 
sense  of  insult,  his  whole  frame  would  trem- 
ble and  his  veins  distend  with  excitement  as 


JAPANESE  ETIQUETTE.  33 

he  declared,  "  Had  it  been  five  years  ear- 
lier "  (before  the  downfall  of  feudalism),  "  I 
must  have  killed  him." 

I  presume  we  have  all  often  violated  Jap- 
anese etiquette,  and  offended  in  some  such 
way,  unconsciously.  A  failure  to  remove 
the  shoes  at  the  door  is  one  of  the  grossest 
acts  of  impoliteness.  On  entering  a  Japan- 
ese house,  it  is  humble  and  therefore  polite 
to  sit  as  near  the  door  as  possible;  yet  we 
have  often  failed  to  do  this,  and  have  sat 
in  front  of  the  tokonoma^  a  seat  originally 
prepared  for  the  claimyo^  and  still  retaining 
its  honorable  nature.  This  blunder  may  be 
compared  to  that  of  seating  one's  self  un- 
asked at  the  right  of  the  host  or  hostess  at 
a  dinner  party.  Two  Japanese  gentlemen 
always  lift  their  hats  on  meeting,  and  stand 
uncovered  even  as  they  talk  together  in  the 
street.  It  is  also  the  polite  thing  to  remove 
the  scarf  before  bowing,  and  even  in  the 
coldest  building  in  the  coldest  weather  the 
greatcoat  would  be  removed  before  begin- 
ning an  address.  I  do  not  say  that  we 
ought  to  follow  them  exactly  in  all  these 
things,  but  we  ought  at  least  to  seek  to  know 
and  practice  enough  of  Japanese  etiquette 
to  avoid  giving  offense. 


34  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

This  is  not  always  an  easy  task.  One  of 
the  most  annoying  experiences  is  that  of 
being  subjected  to  the  extortionate  demands 
of  shopkeepers,  Jinrikisha  men,  boatmen, 
and  others.  It  is  of  course  not  only  a  right 
but  a  duty  to  resist  this  extortion ;  yet  it 
requires  a  high  degree  of  tact  to  be  able  to 
do  so  without  offending  one's  Japanese  asso- 
ciates, who  are  often  from  a  class  proverbi- 
ally careless  in  their  pecuniary  transactions. 
A  close  bargain,  though  it  be  a  just  one,  may 
give  offense. 

Our  visitors  from  abroad  frequently  give 
the  greatest  annoyance  in  this  way.  I  have 
known  American  gentlemen,  under  the  con- 
viction that  they  were  being  imposed  upon 
by  shopkeepers,  to  lay  down  a  far  less  sum 
than  the  price  of  an  article,  which  they  then 
unceremoniously  marched  off  with.  JinH- 
hisha  runners  have  been  treated  by  them  in 
the  same  way,  and  these  heroes  have  after- 
ward recounted  their  triumphs  with  great 
glee.  Had  they  known  that  the  slender 
purses  of  the  missionaries  or  Japanese  pas- 
tors, who  accompanied  them,  afterward  made 
up  the  deficits  which  their  heroism  had  ig- 
nored, their  gratulation  over  the  success  of 
their  short  method  with  extortioners  would 
have  moderated. 


HONORIFICS.  35 

The  new  missionary  is  in  special  danger 
of  offending  by  a  lack  of  ajjpreciation  of 
the  work  already  done,  and  of  the  character 
and  qualifications  of  Japanese  evangelists. 
One  pastor  of  a  large  city  church,  a  man 
who  has  read  many  more  theological  and 
philosophical  works  than  the  average  Amer- 
ican pastor,  was  asked  by  a  newly  arrived 
lady  missionary  —  as  he  has  told  me  —  if  he 
could  read  the  Bible  in  English ! 

Perhaps  the  most  pervading  principle  of 
the  Japanese  language  is  politeness,  and  this 
is  why  the  three  years'  work  upon  the  lan- 
guage, which  has  been  recommended,  not  only 
gives  time  for  the  study  of  this  politest  of  peo- 
ples, but  is  in  itself  a  study  of  them.  It  has 
already  been  mentioned  that  "  the  Japanese 
language  abhors  pronouns."  The  offices  of 
the  pronoun  are  largely  performed  by  hono- 
rific and  depreciatory  terms,  the  broad  prin- 
ciple being  that  the  speaker  must  depreciate 
himself,  his  family,  friends,  and  countrymen, 
with  all  their  thoughts,  acts,  ailments,  pos- 
sessions, etc.,  and  exalt  the  person  spoken 
to,  and  everybody  and  everything  connected 
with  him.  Thus  "  you  "  is  often  expressed 
by  himi  (prince),  and,  among  students  espe- 
cially, hoku  (servant)  is  the  common  term 


36  THE  STUDY  OF   THE  PEOPLE. 

for  the  pronoun  "  I."  My  country,  my 
house,  my  sickness,  are  respectively  the  sim- 
ple names  kuni  (country),  uchi  (house), 
hiyoki  (disease),  with  no  possessive  pro- 
nouns, honorifics,  or  other  descriptive  words ; 
while,  if  belonging  to  the  person  spoken  to, 
these  nouns  are  loaded  down  with  honorifics, 
o  kuni  (august  country),  o  uchi  (august 
house),  go  hiyoki  (august  disease),  o  mi 
ashi  (august  and  honorable  legs),  always 
meaning  your  country,  your  house,  your  legs, 
etc.  Then  there  are  specially  depreciatory 
terms.  For  example,  while  "  your  wife  "  is 
go  saikun  (the  honorable  lady),  "my  wife" 
is  gusai  (the  stupid  wife).  Of  myself  I 
say  mairu  (humbly  go)  ;  concerning  you  it 
must  be  some  such  phrase  as  o  ide  nasaru 
(augustly  proceed).  A  present  made  is  al- 
ways somatsu  na  mono  (something  coarsely 
made  and  of  little  value),  lifted  up  towards 
the  august  recipient;  conversely,  a  present 
received,  however  slight  its  value,  is  always 
kekko  na  okuri  mono  (splendid  thing),  con- 
descendingly bestowed  upon  the  bowed  head 
of  the  humble  beneficiary. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  an  acquaintance, 
a  prominent  man  in  an  inland  city,  brought 
a   son    to  Kyoto   to  put  him   in    Doshisha 


ETIQUETTE  IN  THE  LANGUAGE.         37 

College.  Bringing  him  to  my  study  he  said : 
"  Here 's  my  boy ;  he 's  a  great  fool,  a  perfect 
idiot.  You  will  have  to  beat  him  to  make 
him  learn  anything  at  all."  In  reality  he 
had  no  thought  of  my  taking  his  words  in 
their  literal  meaning.  It  was  a  Japanese 
way  of  asking  indulgence  and  help. 

These  examples  are  enough  to  show  that 
etiquette  is  a  vital  element  in  the  structure 
of  the  language,  and  of  course  one  can  have 
no  free  use  of  these  polite  expressions  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  Japanese  politeness  it- 
self. In  Japanese  it  is  always  dangerous  to 
do  what  is  often  done  in  learning  other 
languages,  —  namely,  to  take  words  spoken 
to  us  and  frame  them  into  our  reply.  Those 
who  attempt  it  may  be  horrified  to  find  that 
they  have  made  some  such  mistake  as  did 
the  good  lady  who,  shortly  after  her  arrival, 
thanked  a  neighbor,  using  his  own  words, 
for  the  S07natsu  na  mono  (rough  and  worth- 
less thing)  which  he  had  given  her.  And 
how  often  have  we,  in  public  and  in  private, 
unwittingly  disturbed  our  Japanese  hearers 
by  similar  mistakes !  A  Japanese  lady  once 
read  to  me  a  letter  from  her  husband,  a 
prominent  Christian  worker,  in  which  he 
spoke  of  the  addresses  of  one  who  could  use 


38     THE  STUDY  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

the  Japanese  language  with  exceptional  cor- 
rectness and  force  ;  but  the  writer  of  the 
letter  passed  by  both  these  qualities  and 
spoke  only  of  the  missionary's  politeness  to 
his  hearers. 

Dr.  Franklin  said  that  "  a  man  who  is 
good  at  making  excuses  is  good  for  nothing 
else."  If  this  were  true,  it  would  prove 
that  this  whole  nation  is  worthless  ;  for  cer- 
tain it  is  that  apologies  are  a  very  important 
part  of  public  sj^eaking  in  Japan,  and  that 
the  Japanese  are  great  adepts  in  the  art  of 
making  them.  It  is  often  overdone,  even  to 
native  ears,  but  the  absence  of  the  apology 
shocks  a  Japanese  audience  much  as  speak- 
ing with  a  hat  on  would  an  American  one. 
But  are  these  apologies  sincere  ?  Yes,  just 
about  as  sincere  and  just  about  as  necessary 
as  the  word  "  dear  "  in  the  phrase  "  Dear 
Sir  "  with  which  every  one  except  a  prude 
begins  business  letters. 

The  wise  missionary  will  not  speak  of  Ja- 
pan, as  Bishop  Heber  has  taught  the  world 
to  sing  of  Ceylon,  as  a  place  — 

"  Where  every  prospect  pleases 
And  only  man  is  vile." 

Many  seem  to  think  that  the  work  of  the 
missionary  is  justifiable  only  upon  the  ground 


REASON  FOR  MISSIONARY  EFFORT.     39 

that  the  people  living  in  missionary  fields 
are  sinners  above  all  other  members  of  the 
race.  Doubtless  such  sins  as  lying  and  li- 
centiousness are  found  more  commonly  and 
in  more  offensive  forms  here,  and  the  shame 
which  should  accompany  them  is  far  less 
than  with  us.  I  could  write  a  dark  chapter 
on  this  theme  were  I  so  disposed.  And 
while  other  sins,  such  as  anger  and  quarrel- 
ing, are  less  common  in  Japan  than  in 
America,  the  general  state  of  society  is  un- 
questionably lower.  But  missionary  effort 
has  its  justification  in  the  fact  that  men 
everywhere  are  sinners  and  in  need  of  a 
Saviour,  and  not  in  any  special  degree  of 
corruption  and  degradation  in  sin  which  a 
particular  people  may  have.  The  wise  mis- 
sionary will  be  open-eyed  to  the  good  rather 
than  to  the  evil  that  is  in  the  people  he 
seeks  to  help.  He  will  heartily  agree  with 
Bishop  Potter  that  the  most  effectual  re- 
generating power  is  "  that  enkindling  and 
transforming  temper  which  forever  sees  in 
humanity,  not  that  which  is  bad  and  bale- 
ful, but  that  which  is  lovable  and  improva- 
ble, which  can  both  discern  and  effectually 
speak  to  that  nobler  longing  of  the  soul  which 
is  the  indestructible  image  of  its  Maker." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

MAKING   A   STAKT. 

The  young  minister  who  takes  charge  of 
a  church  in  the  United  States  has  but  to 
put  his  hand  to  a  plow  which  has  been 
turning  furrows  for  years,  —  it  may  be  for 
centuries.  He  becomes  a  member  of  a  Chris- 
tian community  already  existent  and  orga- 
nized, and  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  in- 
structed in  the  things  of  the  Kingdom.  He 
but  adds  the  force  of  his  personality  to  a 
movement  already  begun.  The  noble  work 
of  organizing  churches  on  our  frontier  is  no 
exception  to  this  rule.  Although  there  may 
be  no  church  formed,  and  but  a  scanty  num- 
ber of  avowed  Christians,  there  will  always 
be  some  who  have  had  Christian  training, 
and  possess  a  definite  idea  of  the  nature 
and  object  of  the  Christian  church.  And 
then  there  are  sure  to  be  other  Christian 
workers  and  communities  not  too  far  away 
for  sympathy  and  help.  In  joining  an  es- 
tablished mission  on  foreign  soil,  the  experi- 


EXPLORATION.  41 

ence  is  not  greatly  different.  For  example, 
he  who  goes  to  Japan  to-day  finds  not  only 
many  other  missionaries,  but  also  several 
hundreds  of  churches  and  scores  of  Japanese 
preachers,  some  of  whom  have  for  years  been 
preaching  the  gospel  with  an  ease  and  an 
effectiveness  which  it  may  well  be  his  high- 
est aspiration  to  equal. 

But  with  those  who  begin  a  new  work  in 
a  foreign  land,  the  case  is  radically  different. 
They  are  not  only  builders  who  must  lay 
their  own  foundations  ;  they  are  explorers 
in  a  trackless  forest,  and  have  much  to  do 
in  the  way  of  removing  obstacles  and  over- 
coming difficulties  before  the  first  founda- 
tion-stone can  be  laid.  Such  was  the  work 
of  those  who  went  to  Japan  a  quarter  of  a 
century  or  more  ago.  The  nation  was  be- 
ginning to  stretch  out  its  hands  for  Western 
commerce,  arts,  and  education,  but  towards 
Christianity  its  hands  were  extended  only  in 
menace.  A  few  ports  were  by  treaty  thrown 
open  to  foreign  residents  on  July  1,  1859, 
and  it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  missionary 
zeal  of  American  Christians  that,  before  the 
close  of  that  year,  three  different  denomi- 
nations had  representatives  on  the  ground. 
They  could  reside  there,  but  that  was  about 


42  MAKING  A  START. 

all.  General  though  not  universal  hatred  of 
foreigners,  and  abject  fear  of  the  despotic 
government  on  the  part  of  the  people,  for  a 
long  time  almost  entirely  shut  off  inter- 
course between  them  and  the  missionaries. 
The  latter  found  no  books  to  aid  them  in  the 
study  of  the  language,  and  the  only  teachers 
they  could  get  at  first  were  men  from  the 
lowest  and  most  ignorant  classes.  Some  of 
these  proved  to  be  government  spies.  Even 
down  to  the  time  of  the  writer's  arrival,  the 
enmity  to  Christianity  was  practically  un- 
broken. On  almost  every  street  corner  in 
the  cities,  and  at  the  cross-roads  and  in 
mountain  passes  in  the  country,  were  large 
edict  boards,  which  declared  that  belief  in 
Christ  was  a  crime  punishable  by  death. 
As  late  as  1868  an  edict  was  issued  which 
announced  that  — 

"  The  wicked  sect  called  Christian  is  strictly 
prohibited.  Suspected  persons  are  to  be  reported 
to  the  respective  officials,  and  rewards  will  be 
given." 

The  government  was  careful  that  the  peo- 
ple should  not  regard  these  edicts  as  a  dead 
letter.  In  the  same  year  a  Roman  Catholic 
Christian  community,  which  had  preserved 


EARLY  OPPOSITION.  43 

its  existence  during  more  than  two  centuries 
and  a  half  of  suspicion  and  persecution,  was 
discovered  in  the  village  of  Urakami,  near 
Nagasaki,  and  its  three  thousand  members 
were  sent  off  as  prisoners,  condemned  to 
hard  labor,  into  thirty-four  different  prov- 
inces. Kido,  one  of  the  most  enlightened 
and  progressive  statesmen  of  the  time,  not 
only  executed  this  edict  of  banishment,  but 
declared  himself  to  be  against  the  mission- 
aries, who,  he  said,  were  "  sent  to  Japan  to 
teach  the  peoj^le  to  disobey  the  laws."  A 
young  man  named  Ichikawa  Einosuke  was 
employed  as  a  teacher  of  the  Japanese  lan- 
guage by  a  missionary  of  the  American 
Board  residing  in  Kobe.  In  connection 
with  his  duties  as  a  teacher  he  became  an 
earnest  student  of  the  Bible,  but  had  not  re- 
ceived baptism.  In  the  spring  of  1871  he 
and  his  wife,  who  had  as  yet  shown  no  in- 
terest in  Christianity,  were  arrested  at  dead 
of  night  and  thrown  into  prison.  The  only 
evidence  of  crime  on  his  part  was  a  manu- 
script copy  of  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  which 
was  found  in  his  possession.  Every  effort 
was  made  to  secure  his  release  ;  but  neither 
the  personal  efforts  of  missionaries,  nor  the 
kindly  offices  of  the  American  consul,  nor 


44  MAKING   A   START. 

even  those  of  the  American  minister  at 
Tokyo,  availed  anything.  Even  the  place  of 
his  confinement  remained  unknown  till  No- 
vember, 1872,  when  his  wife  returned  to 
Kobe  to  tell  the  story  of  their  imprison- 
ment, and  of  the  death  of  her  husband 
in  the  faith  of  the  gospel,  which  had  sus- 
tained him  throughout  all  his  trials.  So 
much  impressed  was  she  by  this  fact,  that 
she  had  embraced  the  same  religion,  and 
afterwards  became  one  of  the  original  mem- 
bers of  the  first  church  formed  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mission.  There  were  other 
Protestant  Christians  who  were  similarly 
treated.  A  young  man  named  Shimizu, 
formerly  a  Buddhist  priest,  who  was  bap- 
tized in  1868,  suffered  in  various  prisons 
for  nearly  five  years. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  missiona- 
ries could  do  little  else  than  make  prepara- 
tions for  the  future,  for  the  better  day 
which  they  believed  was  sure  to  come. 
They  studied  the  language ;  they  prepared 
grammars  and  dictionaries  ;  and  portions  of 
the  Bible  were  translated,  though  not  pub- 
lished. The  Japanese  -  English  dictionary 
published  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn  in  1866  is 
still  (in  its  third  edition)  the  standard  for 


DAYS   OF  PREPARATION.  45 

both  Japanese  and  foreigners.  They  minis- 
tered to  the  sick  and  unfortunate,  and  by 
kind  deeds  and  pure  and  upright  lives  showed 
the  Jaj^anese  that  they  were  not  such  foes 
to  mankind  as  they  had  been  represented. 
The  Japanese  became  convinced  that  Pro- 
testantism was  not  the  dangerous  power  po- 
litically which  many  of  them  believed  the 
Roman  and  Greek  churches  to  be.  One 
man  in  high  authority  was  heard  to  say : 
"  I  like  the  Protestants  better  than  the  Ro- 
manists ;  not  that  I  have  examined  their 
doctrines,  but  Protestant  missionaries  do 
not  look  and  act  as  though  they  were  going 
to  swallow  us  up,  country  and  all."  For  di- 
rect evangelistic  w^ork,  however,  there  was  no 
opportunity  beyond  private  conferences  with 
individuals.  When  we  arrived  in  Japan  in 
the  autumn  of  1872,  there  was  not  in  the 
whole  empire  a  single  public  preaching- 
place.  The  one  church  of  a  dozen  members, 
of  whose  organization  we  shall  soon  speak, 
met  on  the  premises  of  a  missionary,  under 
protection  of  the  United  States  flag. 

But  althoug^h  thus  shut  off  from  direct 
evanofelistic  work,  the  confidence  secured  and 
the  experience  gained  during  these  years  of 
waiting  enabled  them  to  improve  in  large 


46  MAKING  A  START. 

measure  a  great  opportunity  which  was  un- 
expectedly given  them. 

Intercourse  with  the  nations  of  the  West 
had  shown  to  the  Japanese  the  advantages 
of  knowing  European  languages,  and  hun- 
dreds of  young  men  of  the  samurai  class 
were  thirsting  for  a  knowledge  of  English, 
which  was  felt  to  be  of  special  importance. 
It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the  only 
competent  teachers  then  on  the  ground  were 
missionaries.  Aware  of  this  through  the 
work  done  in  their  homes,  the  government 
sent  a  dozen  young  men  of  rank  to  Yoko- 
hama to  be  taught  English  by  a  missionary ; 
and  later  this  school  and  one  in  Nagasaki  re- 
ceived larger  official  patronage.  A  language 
school  —  the  beginning  of  the  present  Impe- 
rial University  —  was  established  in  Yedo. 
Its  English  department  was  placed  under  the 
charge  of  a  missionary,  the  other  foreign  in- 
structors being,  according  to  the  report  of  a 
visitor  at  the  time,  "  an  English  engineer  and 
a  French  corporal."  Soon  after,  this  mission- 
ary. Rev.  Dr.  Verbeck,  wa^s  not  only  given 
entire  charge  of  the  school ;  he  was  made  for 
many  years  educational  adviser  to  the  govern- 
ment. He  was  thus  in  position  to  secure  many 
accomplished  teachers  from  America,  and  to 


TEACHING  ENGLISH.  47 

arrange  for  the  education  of  Japanese  youth 
in  our  best  schools.  The  influence  for  good 
which  he  thus  exerted  is  immeasurable. 

Other  missionaries  worked  in  the  same 
way.  Beyond  even  the  medical  work  so 
nobly  and  successfully  carried  on  in  several 
places,  the  teaching  of  the  English  language 
was  the  key  to  the  hearts  of  the  people,  and 
missionaries  almost  universally  used  this  key. 
Mission  schools  and  homes  everywhere  be- 
came thronged  with  young  men  ready  to 
read  the  Bible  or  Christian  books,  or  to 
listen  to  Christian  teaching,  if  only  they 
could  learn  to  read  and  speak  English.  Not 
a  few  of  these  pupils  were  touched  by  the 
Truth,  which  they  at  first  had  no  desire  to 
hear  for  itself.  From  them  and  their  parents 
and  friends  were  our  early  converts,  and 
many  of  them  are  valiant  Christian  soldiers 
to-day.  Some,  of  course,  were  restive  under 
what  seemed  excessive  doses  of  Christianity ; 
others  were  afraid  to  take  directly  what 
they  had  no  objection  to  receive  indirectly ; 
and  others  still  became  antagonistic.  Their 
broken  English  often  gave  a  ludicrous  color- 
ing to  what  they  said,  either  in  the  way  of 
approval  or  disapproval.  A  young  ration- 
alist once  arose  in  a  meeting  and  said, — 


48  MAKING  A  START. 

speaking  slowly  and  with  great  effort,  —  "I 
believe  —  hell  —  arimasen  "  (is  not)  !  The 
Japanese  alphabet  has  no  "1,"  and  so  it 
comes  about  that,  in  speaking  English,  "  1 " 
and  "  r  "  are  even  more  of  a  perplexity  to 
them  than  "p"  and  "q"  to  an  American 
child.  A  class  of  custom-house  officials 
whom  Mrs.  Gordon,  during  our  residence  at 
Osaka,  had  taken  through  "  Wilson's  Third 
Reader,"  which  is  largely  composed  of  Scrip- 
ture stories,  deserted  her  at  once  when  Bibles 
were  put  into  their  hands.  Years  afterward 
we  received  a  letter  from  one  of  them,  at 
that  time  an  interpreter  in  the  foreign  office 
of  the  Osaka  Fu,  asking  wherein  the  essence 
of  Christianity  lies.  "Does  it  consist  simply 
of  obedience  to  the  Gordon  Rule  ? "  Un- 
fortunately we  could  not  claim  that  "  the 
Gordon  Rule  "  is  a  perfect  standard.  One 
who  had  become  a  Christian  announced 
with  a  profound  bow,  "  I  am  the  Protestant 
Church." 

I  have  intimated  that  some  of  the  early 
language-teachers  employed  by  the  Japanese 
were  unfit  for  their  positions.  Of  the  earli- 
est Japanese  students,  many  with  only  the 
veriest  smattering  of  English  set  up  schools 
of  their  own.    A  Japanese  acquaintance  told 


''ENGLISH   TAUGHT  HERE.''  49 

me  of  his  surprise,  when  visiting  his  native 
province  far  in  the  interior,  on  seeing  a 
notice  on  the  door  of  a  school-house  an- 
nouncing (in  Japanese,  of  course),  ^''English 
Taught  Here'^  Curiosity  led  him  to  enter 
and  inquire  how  far  their  English  instruc- 
tion extended.  He  received  the  reply,  "  We 
teach,  the  alphabet  as  far  as  to  G."  When 
we  remember  that  in  studying  Chinese  one 
simply  masters  some  of  the  Chinese  charac- 
ters, this  story  seems  less  improbable  than  it 
otherwise  would. 

These  students  of  English  were  of  course 
largely  selfish  in  motive  in  their  coming 
to  the  missionaries.  Even  when  they  came 
with  the  Scriptures  in  their  hands,  saying, 
"  Teacher,  please  teach  me  Holy  Bible,"  we 
knew  it  was  the  English  shell  rather  than 
the  Christian  kernel  they  were  after ;  though 
not  a  few,  in  attempting  to  crack  the  shell, 
were  caught  by  the  aroma  of  the  kernel 
within,  as  they  afterwards  were  ready  to 
confess.  Others  came  for  different  purposes 
with  the  same  show  of  interest.  Men  who 
wanted  positions  as  servants  (often  that  they 
might  learn  English)  came  with  the  most 
pious  of  faces.  Men  who  wanted  to  become 
doctors  or  druggists  approached  our  mission- 


50  MAKING  A   START. 

2LVY  physicians  in  a  similar  way.  One  man 
spent  a  whole  forenoon  with  me  talking 
about  Christianity,  his  real  purpose  being  to 
find  out  whether  Christian  funerals  cost  as 
much  as  Buddhist  ones  or  not.  And  others 
sought  to  know  about  Western  commerce  or 
manufactures,  brought  mineral  water  to  be 
analyzed,  etc.,  etc.  Some  of  them  were  so 
skillful  in  simulating  an  interest  in  Chris- 
tianity as  to  deceive  the  most  cautious. 
That  many  others  came  with  a  sense  of  deep 
spiritual  need  will  clearly  appear  as  we  go 
on.  One  of  the  most  venerable  pastors  be- 
came a  Christian  after  making  a  complete 
round  of  the  various  religions  in  the  fruitless 
attempt  to  satisfy  his  soul's  longings.  That 
more  did  not  so  come  even  at  that  time  is 
not  strange,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  they  had 
for  centuries  been  taught  to  look  upon  Chris- 
tianity as  a  system  of  sorcery. 

Perhaps  I  cannot  better  conclude  this 
story  of  the  way  a  beginning  was  made 
than  by  transcribing  a  brief  account  of  the 
organization  of  the  first  Christian  church  in 
Japan :  — 

"In  January,  1872,  the  missionaries  at 
Yokohama,  and  English-speaking  residents 
of  all  denominations,  united  in  the  observ- 


THE  FIRST  JAPANESE   CHURCH.  51 

ance  o£  the  Week  of  Prayer.  Some  Jap- 
anese students,  connected  with  the  private 
classes  taught  by  the  missionaries,  were  pre- 
sent through  curiosity,  or  through  a  desire 
to  please  their  teachers,  and  some  perhaps 
from  a  true  interest  in  Christianity.  It  was 
concluded  to  read  the  Acts  in  course,  day 
after  day,  and,  that  the  Japanese  present 
might  take  part  intelligently  in  the  service, 
the  Scripture  of  the  day  was  translated 
extemporaneously  into  their  language.  The 
meetings  grew  in  interest,  and  were  continued 
from  week  to  week,  till  the  end  of  February. 
After  a  week  or  two  the  Japanese,  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  nation,  were 
on  their  knees  in  a  Christian  prayer-meeting, 
entreating  God  with  great  emotion,  with 
tears  streaming  down  their  faces,  that  He 
would  give  his  Sj^irit  to  Japan  as  to  the 
early  church  and  to  the  people  around  the 
apostles.  These  prayers  were  characterized 
by  intense  earnestness.  Captains  of  men-of- 
war,  English  and  American,  who  witnessed 
the  scene,  wrote  to  us,  '  The  prayers  of  these 
Japanese  take  the  heart  out  of  us.'  A  mis- 
sionary wrote  that  the  intensity  of  feeling 
was  such  that  he  feared  often  that  he  would 
faint  away  in  the  meetings.     Half  a  dozen. 


52  MAKING  A   START. 

perhaps,  of  the  Japanese  thus  publicly  en- 
gaged in  prayer ;  but  the  number  present 
was  much  larger.  This  is  the  record  of  the 
first  Japanese  prayer-meeting. 

"  As  a  direct  fruit  of  these  prayer-meetings, 
the  first  Japanese  Christian  church  was  or- 
ganized in  Yokohama  on  March  10,  1872. 
It  consisted  of  nine  young  men  baptized 
that  day,  and  two  middle-aged  men  who  had 
been  baptized  before.  The  members  gave 
their  church  the  catholic  name  of  '  The 
Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,'  and  drew  up 
their  own  constitution,  a  simple  evangelical 
creed,  together  with  some  rules  of  church- 
government,  according  to  which  the  govern- 
ment was  to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  pastor 
and  ciders,  with  the  consent  of  the  mem- 
bers." 


CHAPTER  y. 

THE    "  KUMAMOTO    BAND." 

In  tlie  previous  chapter  I  have  spoken  of 
the  fact  that  the  teaching  of  English  was, 
in  the  early  days,  a  key  to  the  hearts  of 
young  Japanese  which  was  constantly  used  by 
the  missionaries.  Other  Christian  teachers, 
not  under  missionary  appointment,  used  the 
same  key  with  great  faithfulness  and  a  good 
measure  of  success.  This  was  especially 
true  of  Captain  L.  L.  Janes,  of  Kumamoto, 
in  the  south ;  and  of  President  Clark,  of 
the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  who 
was  for  a  time  at  the  head  of  the  Japanese 
Agricultural  College  at  Sapporo,  in  the  ex- 
treme north.  As  an  illustration  of  the  good 
work  done  by  these  teachers  under  more  or 
less  favorable  circumstances,  I  give  below 
a  translation  (made  by  a  Japanese)  of  an 
account  of  the  work  of  the  gentleman  first 
named,  prepared  by  one  of  his  pupils,  after- 
ward the  Rev.  P.  Kanamori :  — 

"  In  1871  Captain  L.  L.  Janes  came  to 
Kumamoto  upon  the  invitation  of  the  dai- 


54  THE    "  KUMAMOTO   BAND." 

myd  of  Higo,  and  established  a  school  where 
foreign  knowledge  was  to  be  taught.  The 
daimyo  was  decided  in  his  desire  for  a  mili- 
tary officer,  because  he  feared  that,  if  he 
employed  an  ordinary  scholar,  the  youths  of 
the  province  would  '  fall  into  literary  weak- 
ness,' and  so  the  bold  spirit  of  the  province 
would  be  lost.  So  he  employed  this  learned 
and  valorous  officer  in  order  to  introduce 
the  sciences  of  the  West,  and  at  the  same 
time  stimulate  the  military  spirit  of  his 
young  men.  Captain  Janes  having  been 
employed  with  this  end  in  view,  his  circum- 
stances were  very  different  from  those  of 
the  missionaries.  At  that  time  Japan  was 
still  unenlightened,  particularly  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  Kumamoto.  The  number  of  men 
who  were  yet  opposed  to  Christianity  was 
very  great,  so  that  even  the  lives  of  Captain 
and  Mrs.  Janes  were  by  no  means  free  from 
danger.  The  pupils  were  largely  sons  of 
the  rough  and  turbulent  men  of  the  place, 
and  it  may  be  readily  seen  that  to  teach 
Christianity  to  them  was  a  very  delicate  and 
difficult  task.  No  pupil  could  understand 
English,  and  Captain  Janes  did  not  under- 
stand the  Japanese  language,  so  that  the 
difficulty  of  communication  was  extreme. 


CAPTAIN  JANES.  55 

"  For  the  first  two  or  three  years  Captain 
Janes  said  little  or  nothing  about  Christian- 
ity, but  gave  his  whole  strength  to  teaching 
English  and  the  sciences ;  but  he  was  so 
kind  and  fatherly  in  his  treatment  of  his 
pupils  that  they  came  to  forget  that  he 
was  a  foreigner,  and  they  gladly  listened  to 
whatever  he  said  to  them. 

"As  he  was  a  fervent  Christian,  his  desire 
to  preach  to  the  pupils  must  have  been  in- 
tense, but  under  the  circumstances  he  wisely 
contented  himself  with  first  seekino-  to  win 
his  pupils'  hearts  as  the  best  possible  prepa- 
ration for  the  future  sowing  of  the  gospel 
seed.  After  he  had  been  there  about  three 
years  he  one  day  said  to  us  :  'I  shall  teach 
the  Bible  on  Sunday ;  any  one  who  wishes 
may  come  to  my  house.'  We  still  hated 
Christianity  as  though  it  were  a  snake,  and 
did  not  like  even  to  see  the  Bible,  but  we 
so  respected  him  that  we  concluded  to  go 
to  the  meeting.  One  of  us  went  to  the 
teacher  of  Chinese  and  asked  his  consent. 
He  replied  that  we  might  go  to  learn  about 
Christianity,  not  to  believe  it,  but  to  study 
its  strong  and  weak  points  in  order  to  ojDpose 
it.  And  so,  of  the  few  who  went,  some  went 
simpl}^  out  of  curiosity,  others  for  amusement, 


56  THE   ''  KUMAMOTO  BAND:' 

others  still  that  they  might  oppose,  —  none 
with  a  desire  to  hear.     The  portions  of  the 
New  Testament  that  we  read  had  no  flavor 
for  us,  and  the  time  seemed  spent  in  vain. 
But  our  teacher  was  kind  and  assiduous  in 
his  teaching,  and  fervent  in  his  prayers  for 
us.     During  his  prayer,  which  seemed  tedi- 
ous to  us,  we  sometimes   opened    our  eyes 
and  looked  upon   his  face  with   its  closed 
and  tearful  eyes,  and  then  we  laughed,  say- 
ing that  '  Americans  weep.'    At  this  time  he 
simply  taught  the  Bible,  and  never  exhorted 
us  to  become  Christians ;  and  when  two  of 
us  thought  to  impose  upon  him  by  pretend- 
ing that  we  wished  to  become  preachers,  he 
met  them  sternly,  saying,  '  You  are  not  yet 
worthy  to  be  preachers ;  go  on   with  your 
Bible  study.'     A  year  later,  in  1875,  a  few 
were  really  touched  by  the  gospel,  and  this 
was  followed  by  a  division  of  the   students 
into  two  parties,  the  one  favorable  to  Chris- 
tianity, the  other  seeking  to  oppose  it  by 
reviving  the  study,  of  '  The  Great  Learning ' 
and  '  The  Doctrine  of  the  Mean,'  as  taught 
by  the  Chinese   sages.     In  August  of   the 
same  year.  Captain  Janes  added  preaching 
to   his   biblical    instruction.      His    sermons 
were  long,  sometimes  three  hours  long,  but 


CHRISTIANITY    VS.    CONFUCIANISM.        57 

as  we  had  become  interested  in  Christianity 
they  were  never  tiresome  to  us.  All  who 
attended  these  meetings  were  studying  the 
Confucian  morality  at  the  house  of  the  Chi- 
nese teacher  every  Sunday  afternoon,  and 
so,  for  quite  a  while,  we  were  studying 
Christianity  with  Captain  Janes  in  the 
mornings,  and  Confucianism  v/ith  the  Chi- 
nese teacher  in  the  afternoons.  For  about 
six  months  we  w^ere  thus  divided  in  our  ad- 
miration for  Christianity  and  Confucianism, 
but  by  the  end  of  the  year,  all  except  one 
or  two  were  united  in  their  belief  in  Chris- 
tianity. 

"  By  Captain  Janes's  advice,  some  of  us 
spent  the  New  Year's  vacation  in  the  study 
of  the  Gospel  of  John,  and  in  prayer  to 
God  for  his  blessing  upon  ourselves  and  our 
classmates.  When  the  new  term  opened, 
these  Christian  students  had  a  faith  which 
burned  like  fire,  so  that  they  could  not  but 
preach  to  their  fellow-students,  and  try  to 
lead  them  to  the  gate  of  salvation.  The 
whole  school  was  like  a  boiling  caldron ; 
the  studies  were  neglected  ;  and  groups  of 
five,  or  six,  or  seven  men  began  to  study  the 
Bible  in  the  recitation  -  rooms,  the  dining- 
room,  or  in  their  private  rooms.     These  stu- 


58  THE   ''  KUMAMOTO  BAND:' 

dents  had  but  little  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
or  theology,  but  they  were  impelled  to 
preach,  even  though  some  of  them  were  not 
more  than  twelve  years  old.  The  recitations 
were  suspended,  and  Captain  Janes  gave 
himself  to  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel 
to  the  students.  We  had  not  even  heard  of 
the  word  'revival,'  and  knew  nothing  of 
the  special  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
We  wondered  why  our  spirits  burned  like  a 
fire,  and  why  we  preached  the  gospel  like 
madmen.  One  of  us  said,  '  May  not  this 
be  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  mentioned 
in  the  Bible  ? '  And  others  answered,  '  Yes, 
it  may  be.'  Our  preaching  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  school,  but  found  its  way  to  the 
servants  of  the  teachers,  our  kindred  in  our 
homes,  old  men  and  women  in  the  streets, 
and  so  on. 

"  Now  I  must  speak  of  one  who  was  secretly 
praying  in  her  closet,  who  received  an  open 
reward  from  her  heavenly  Father.  This 
was  Mrs.  Janes.  She  had  no  acquaintance 
with  the  students,  but  for  many  months  her 
mind  had  been  filled  with  intense  desire  for 
the  salvation  of  the  students,  and  she  prayed 
day  and  night  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  come 
upon  them.     This  was  a  great  hidden  cause 


A   REVIVAL.  59 

of  the  revival.  This  revival  continued  for 
about  a  month,  and  those  who  confessed 
faith  in  Christ  numbered  over  forty,  and 
more  than  forty  others  were  studying  the 
Bible.  On  the  last  Sunday  in  January,  a 
beautiful  spring-like  day,  the  Christian  stu- 
dents went  out  to  a  hill,  Hana-oha-yama^  — 
southwest  of  Kumamoto,  —  a  hill  since  made 
famous  as  the  spot  where  Saigo  Takamori 
placed  his  cannon  to  bombard  Kumamoto. 
They  went  singing  hymns  as  they  climbed 
the  hill,  and,  taking  their  seats  in  a  circle 
on  its  summit,  they  made  a  solemn  covenant 
together  that,  as  they  had  been  thus  blessed 
by  God  in  advance  of  all  their  countrymen, 
they  would  labor  to  enlighten  the  darkness 
of  the  empire  by  preaching  the  gospel  even 
at  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives.  'They 
prayed  kneeling,  and  wrote  an  oath-paper 
on  which  they  signed  and  sealed  their 
names.' 

"  The  fact  that  this  covenant  had  been 
made  became  known,  and  all  those  con- 
nected with  the  school  cried  out  in  dismay  : 
'  Alas  !  the  students  have  become  Christian 
priests.  Captain  Janes  has  made  Christians 
of  them.  If  this  be  not  stopped,  our  hopes 
for  the  school  will  be  gone.'     At  this  time 


60  THE  "  KUMAMOTO  BAND.'' 

the  life  of  Captain  Janes  was  in  great  dan- 
ger, and  the  Christian  students  were  perse- 
cuted in  a  thousand  ways,  for  Christianity  was 
looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  witchcraft.  One 
mother  said  to  her  son  :  '  If  you  don't  aban- 
don Christianity  I  must  kill  myself  in  order 
to  wipe  out  the  stain  which  you  have  cast 
upon  your  ancestors.'  A  father  said :  '  If 
you  don't  give  up  your  faith  I  will  kill  you 
immediately.'  One  student  was  confined 
in  his  room  for  one  hundred  days,  and  was 
finally  driven  from  home.  There  was  not 
one  who  was  not  more  or  less  persecuted. 
On  this  account  the  number  fell  off  to  less 
than  thirty.  But  the  true  believers,  although 
the  oldest  was  under  twenty  years,  were  im- 
movable in  their  faith,  and  ready  even  to  sac- 
rifice their  lives.  During  all  the  time  they 
were  encouraged  and  comforted  by  Captain 
Janes,  and  enabled  to  stand  up  against  the 
persecutions,  which  continued  for  about  six 
months ;  so  that  the  believers  not  only  gained 
the  victory,  but  were  made  all  the  stronger 
by  their  persecutions.  By  the  following 
autumn,  Captain  Janes  left  Kumamoto,  and 
the  Christians  went  to  the  Doshisha  school 
in  Kyoto,  to  prepare  themselves  more  fully 
for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel." 


FA3IILY  PERSECUTION.  61 

A  word  or  two  may  be  added  concerning 
this  persecution  and  the  character  of  these 
men.  Knowing  the  bitter  feeling  in  Kuma- 
moto  against  the  young  men,  and  that  he 
could  continue  with  them  for  only  a  short 
time,  Captain  Janes  wrote,  asking  if  they 
could  be  received  into  the  Doshisha  school, 
saying  among  other  things  :  "  My  boys  and 
I  have  been  passing  through  unusual  events, 
and  the  mutterings  of  a  sharp,  vindictive, 
and  exciting  persecution  are  still  in  the  air. 
They  have  four  of  my  Christian  boys  still 
shut  up  in  their  homes.  I  think  the  little 
band  is  practically  intact.  No  lives  have 
been  taken,  although  that  was  seriously 
enough  threatened,  and  there  are  no  cases 
of  harakiri  yet  to  report,  although  a  mother 
in  one  family  and  a  father  in  another  took 
that  method  of  driving  their  sons  from  the 
faith.  The  number  of  faithful  to  the  end  is 
larger  than  I  expected.  I  grieve  over  my 
imprisoned  Christian  boys.  The  physical 
strength  of  one  is  failing,  and  his  unthink- 
ing persecutors  may  kill  him.  I  understand 
there  was  an  auto  da  fe  of  his  Bibles  a  few 
days  since." 

Of  the  writer  of  the  above  account  he 
wrote:    "He   has  received   the   most  cruel 


62  THE   ''  KUMAMOTO  BAND:' 

and  outrageous  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
his  brother,  and  has  been  practically  a  pris- 
oner for  one  hundred  and  twenty  days.  He 
was  made  the  slave  of  the  servants  of  his 
family,  who  were  instructed  to  treat  him  as 
one  possessed  of  a  devil,  without  human 
rights.  He  is  now  practically  an  outcast. 
He  severs  his  family  connection  and  strikes 
for  liberty.  He  is  a  shorn  lamb,  and  leav- 
ing all." 

The  subsequent  history  of  nearly  every 
one  of  these  men  is  such  as  to  justify  the 
hopes  to  which  their  faith  and  patience  un- 
der persecution  gave  rise.  Of  the  men  who 
went  to  Kyoto  and  continued  their  educa- 
tion, one  (Kanamori)  afterward  built  up  a 
strong  church  in  Okayama,  then  for  a  time 
was  acting  principal  of  the  Doshisha,  after 
that  becoming  pastor  of  the  Bancho  church, 
Tokyo.i  Another  (Yokoi),  after  remarka- 
ble success  as  an  evangelist  and  pastor 
at  Imabari,  is  now  pastor  of  the  Hongo 
church,  Tokyo,  and  editor  of  "The  Chris- 
tian," a  weekly  religious  newspaper,  and 
"  The  Rikugo  Zasshi,"  a  Christian  magazine. 
Another  (Kozaki),  the  first  pastor  of  the  two 

^  His  faith  is  at  present  suffering  an  eclipse  which  his 
friends  hope  will  be  only  temporary. 


CHRISTIAN  LEADERS.  63 

churches  just  named,  and  the  founder  and 
first  editor  of  the  above  -  mentioned  peri- 
odicals, is  the  honored  successor  of  Dr. 
Neesima  as  president  of  the  Doshisha  Uni- 
versity. Another  (Ebina)  was  the  first 
pastor  of  the  Annaka  and  Maebashi 
churches,  and  after  excellent  work  at  Ku- 
mamoto  and  elsewhere  is  nov/  the  president 
of  the  Japanese  Missionary  Society.  Mr. 
Miyagawa,  the  pastor  of  the  large  and  flour- 
ishing First  Church  at  Osaka,  who  has  done 
and  is  doing  a  work  second  to  none  in  im- 
portance, is  another  member  of  this  com- 
pany. Other  members  are  Mr.  Morita,  for 
ten  years  a  teacher  in  the  Doshisha,  and 
a  recent  recipient  of  the  degree  of  Ph.  D. 
from  Yale  University,  where  he  has  been 
lecturing  during  the  past  year  on  Oriental 
Philosophy ;  Mr.  Ichihara,  first  a  valued 
teacher  in  his  alma  mater^  then  principal 
of  the  Tokwa  school  at  Sendai,  for  the 
past  three  years  at  Yale,  which  has  given 
him  also  the  philosophical  degree  ;  Mr. 
Shimomura,  a  graduate  of  the  Worcester 
Polytechnic  Institute,  a  student  of  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  and  now  principal  of 
the  Harris  Science  School  of  the  Doshisha 
University;  Mr.  Tokutomi,  founder  of  the 


64  THE  ' '  K UMAM OTO  BAND." 

poj)ular  magazine,  "  The  People's  Friend," 
and  "  Tlie  People's  Newspaper,"  and  a  man 
of  national  reputation  ;  Mr.  Ukita,  a  profes- 
sor in  the  Doshisha,  and  widely  known  as  a 
writer  ;  Mr.  Kato,  a  professor  in  the  Doshi- 
sha, now  in  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology  that  he  may  further  prepare  for 
his  work  ;  and  Messrs.  Ide  and  Fuwa,  pas- 
tors of  important  churches.  Of  the  work  of 
these  men  Kev.  Dr.  J.  D.  Davis  has  truly 
said :  "  It  has  already  changed  the  history 
of  Japan.  The  coming  of  these  young  men 
at  that  early  day,  with  their  earnest  Chris- 
tian purpose,  gave  a  tone  to  the  school; 
and  their  influence  was  felt  in  moulding  the 
Doshisha  morally,  and  in  shaping  its  course 
of  study  from  that  time." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   FIRST   PREACHING. 

It  will  readily  be  imagined  that,  under 
the  circumstances  outliued  in  the  preceding 
chapters,  our  early  Christian  preaching  was 
very  simple  and  informal.  It  greatly  re- 
sembled that  of  the  first  Christian  centuries 
when  Christianity  was  a  religio  illicitae  when 
Paul  "reasoned  daily  in  the  school  of  Ty- 
rannus,"  or  "in  his  own  hired  house  received 
all  that  came  unto  him,  preaching  the  king- 
dom of  God,  and  teaching  those  things 
which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  Such 
preaching  was  to  individuals  rather  than  to 
large  assemblies ;  was  conversational  rather 
than  oratorical.  But  though  informal  it  was 
not  ineffective.  The  missionary  in  his  broken 
Japanese  told  of  the  love  of  God,  and  how 
men  may  approach  and  serve  Him,  or  ex- 
plained some  passage  of  Scripture  to  the 
few  who  dared  to  be  seen  entering  his  house. 
A  little  later  some  of  those  who  had  become 
Christians  would  invite  friends  and  neigh- 


66  THE  FIRST  PREACHING. 

bors  to  their  own  houses  to  see  and  hear  the 
missionary,  much  as  Matthew  the  publican 
gathered  his  fellow-publicans  in  his  house 
that  they  might  meet  and  be  taught  by  his 
newly-found  Teacher. 

The  floors  of  Japanese  houses  are  elevated 
about  two  feet  from  the  ground  and  covered 
with  thick  straw  mats.  On  entering  the 
house  the  wooden  clogs,  straw  sandals,  or 
foreign  shoes,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  left  in 
the  do7na,  a  sort  of  vestibule  or  unfioored 
space  near  the  door,  and  all  step  up  on  the 
floor  in  their  stocking  (or  bare)  feet.  In 
this  way  the  floors  are  kept  scrupulously 
clean.  Another  result  is  that  many  mission- 
aries have  preached  more  sermons  with  their 
shoes  off  than  with  them  on.  As  there  are 
no  chairs  in  purely  Japanese  houses  all  su- 
waru  ;  that  is,  double  their  legs  under  them, 
and  sit  on  their  heels.  Tradition  has  it  that 
the  apostle  James  spent  so  much  of  his  time 
in  prayer  that  his  knees  became  callous  like 
a  camel's.  We  in  Japan  after  sitting  in 
this  style  through  long  services  often  feel 
that  we  might  well  claim  similar  distinction, 
even  if  not  because  of  our  devoutness. 

Although  greater  freedom  and  success  led 
to  more  public  and  formal  preaching,  these 


PRIVATE  MEETINGS.  67 

small  meetings  in  private  houses,  where 
teacher  and  taught  gather  in  the  most  so- 
ciable way,  with  the  hibachi  (brasiers  with 
charcoal  fires)  to  warm  and  the  ever  present 
tea-tray  to  cheer,  must  long  continue  to  be 
an  important  part  of  evangelistic  work. 
They  will  ever  remain  also  among  the  mis- 
sionary's most  cherished  memories. 

At  a  subsequent  stage,  Japanese  houses 
fronting  on  some  public  thoroughfare  were 
rented,  and,  with  slight  remodeling,  trans- 
formed into  regular  kogisho,  or  public  preach- 
ing-places. At  these  kogisho  the  audience 
usually  divided  itself  into  two  or  three  parts. 
First  were  the  Christians  and  kyudosha 
(seekers  of  the  way)  who  immediately  upon 
entering  dropped  their  foot-gear  in  the  doma 
and  at  once  ascended  to  the  floor ;  secondly, 
those  who  had  courage  enough  to  enter  the 
door  and  stand  in  the  doma;  and  thirdly, 
those  passing  along  the  street  with  their 
loins  girt  for  traveling,  or,  it  may  be,  with 
packs  on  their  backs,  who,  attracted  by  the 
unusual  sight  and  sound  of  the  preacher, 
would  stop  for  a  while  to  hear  the  "red- 
haired  and  blue-eyed  "  foreigner  tell  of  the 
strange  religion  believed  in  beyond  the  wide 
seas.     These  classes  greatly  varied  in  their 


68  THE  FIRST  PREACHING. 

proportions  on  different  days.  Sometimes 
the  transient  hearers  so  far  outnumbered  the 
regular  ones  that  the  preacher  was  con- 
strained to  put  aside  his  specially  prepared 
sermon  and  give  them  a  general  outline  of 
the  great  features  of  the  religion  of  Christ. 
And  speaking  thus  of  the  Heavenly  Father's 
love  in  giving  his  Son  for  man's  redemption 
and  enrichment,  —  that  which  had  proved  the 
blessing  of  blessings  in  his  own  life,  —  to  his 
brother  men  who  had  never  before  heard  of 
it  and  might  never  hear  of  it  again,  he  would 
be  a  dull  preacher  who  would  not  find  his 
heart  glowing  with  unusual  emotion  and  his 
voice  speaking  with  unwonted  pathos. 

The  renting  of  these  kogisho  often  proved 
a  difficult  and  disheartening  task.  In  many 
places,  Kyoto  for  example,  there  is  an  un- 
written law  that  no  outside  party  shall  be 
allowed  to  rent  a  house  in  any  ward  without 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  residents.  And 
so  it  often  came  about  that  negotiations  for 
the  renting  of  a  house  would  go  on  with  per- 
fect smoothness  until  the  time  came  for  the 
final  ratification  of  the  bargain,  when,  ac- 
cording to  another  law,  the  renter  must  state 
in  writing  of  what  religion  or  sect  he  was 
an  adherent.    Then  the  trouble  began.    The 


KOGisno.  69 

landlord  would  usually  discover  that  the 
house  was  too  small  or  too  large  for  the 
renter,  or  would  manufacture  some  other 
reason  for  withdrawing  his  offer  to  let  it. 
Or  some  resident  would  point  out  the  fu- 
tsugo  (inconvenience)  that  would  arise  from 
such  an  arrangement,  and  so  after  innumer- 
able consultations  and  floods  of  polite  and 
formal  talk  the  would-be  tenant  would  find 
himself  exactly  where  he  started  from,  only 
with  one  more  road  barred  to  all  progress. 
Unless  a  house  could  be  found  belonging  to 
a  Christian,  or  to  some  one  of  such  an  inde- 
pendent mind  or  in  such  pecuniary  straits 
as  to  be  ready  to  defy  tradition  and  the 
opinions  of  his  neighbors,  the  case  was  well- 
nigh  hopeless. 

Ordinary  street  preaching  has  never  found 
great  favor  in  Japan.  The  natural  refine- 
ment and  the  formal  manners  of  the  Japan- 
ese make  them  shrink  from  seeming  to  put 
the  Christian  preacher  on  a  level  with  the 
street  pedler. 

As  the  opposition  died  away  and  Chris- 
tianity became  more  popular  larger  buildings 
were  needed  and  secured. 

In  many  localities  the  Christians  erected 
more  or  less  commodious  church-buildings. 


70  THE   FIRST  PREACHING. 

As  the  American  Board  does  not  aid  in  the 
building  of  churches,  and  the  only  outside 
aid  is  from  individual  missionaries  and  the 
few  European  residents  who  are  favorable 
to  Christianity  and  in  sympathy  with  mis- 
sions, the  self-denial  which  these  buildings 
cost  is  often  remarkable.  Wives  have  dis- 
posed of  their  wedding-dresses,  or  they  have 
sold  other  clothing  descended  from  their  an- 
cestors ;  and  samui^ai  have  sold  their  own  or 
their  fathers'  swords,  the  dearest  of  all  their 
earthly  possessions. 

A  popular  form  of  assembly  is  the  Kiri- 
suto  kyo  sehkydkai  or  enzetsukai,  that  is, 
meetings  lasting  from  two  to  ten  or  more 
hours,  in  which  a  number  of  speakers  preach 
sermons  or  make  addresses  upon  the  Chris- 
tian religion  and  related  subjects. 

These  meetings  are  sometimes  held  in  the 
churches ;  more  commonly  a  theatre  or  other 
public  hall  is  used.  Japanese  theatres,  —  as 
the  usual  name  for  them,  shibai-goya,  theatre- 
barn,  indicates,  —  are,  as  a  rule,  especially 
in  the  country  towns,  very  rudely  built  and 
furnished.  Above  is  the  naked  roof,  which 
does  not  always  shut  out  either  light  or  rain. 
Below,  no  chairs  or  benches,  but  the  floor, 
often  of  earth,  divided  up  into  little  squares 


THEATRE  MEETINGS.  71 

where  the  members  of  a  family  or  party  can 
sit  together  on  mats  rented  for  the  occasion  ; 
tea,  sweetmeats  and  other  edibles,  and  smok- 
ing implements  being  furnished  by  the  at- 
tendants. The  walls  are  usually  of  rough 
mud,  and  the  scenery  and  other  appurte- 
nances of  the  most  primitive  kind.  The 
foot-gear  of  those  who  attend  is  taken  at 
the  door,  a  check  being  given  to  the  owner. 
In  this  way  the  number  of  hearers  at  any 
meeting  can  be  known  with  a  good  degree 
of  accuracy. 

The  Japanese  government  has  quite  strict 
regulations  in  regard  to  public  meetings, 
being  ever  watchful  lest  seditious  opinions 
be  promulgated  ;  and  policemen  are  usually 
present  to  keep  order  and  to  see  that  these 
regulations  are  enforced.  The  names  of  the 
speakers,  their  themes,  and  often  synopses 
of  their  sermons  or  addresses  have  usually  to 
be  furnished  the  local  government.  Some- 
times the  subject  or  the  matter  of  an  ad- 
dress is  objected  to;  but  it  is  rare  that 
the  speaking  is  entirely  stopped.  For  the 
Japanese  show  much  adroitness  in  evading 
these  regulations,  which  they  regard  as  out 
of  place  at  religious  meetings.  I  remem- 
ber one  young  man  whose  address  had  been 


72  THE  FIRST  PREACHING. 

forbidden,  who  arose  when  his  time  to  speak 
came,  and  with  an  air  of  the  greatest  frank- 
ness proceeded  to  say  that  he  had  expected 
to  have  the  pleasure  of  addressing  the  audi- 
ence upon  the  subject  announced;  but  the 
delivery  of  his  address  had  been  prohibited 
by  the  local  government  and  he  must  of 
course  submit.  If,  however,  he  had  been 
allowed  to  speak  it  was  his  purpose  to  dwell 
upon  several  important  points,  the  first  of 
which  was  so  and  so,  the  second  so  and  so, 
the  third  and  fourth  so  and  so;  and  he  went 
on  to  the  end  of  the  speech  that  he  would 
have  made  had  his  address  not  been  forbid- 
den by  the  government ! 

One  of  the  most  impressive  of  these  theatre 
meetings  occurred  in  Kyoto  in  1881.  It  was 
impressive  because  of  the  place,  an  historic 
theatre  in  the  old  capital  of  Japan,  the 
centre  and  stronghold  of  Buddhism ;  because 
of  its  size,  nearly  three  thousand  hearers, 
including  several  hundred  priests,  being  pre- 
sent; because  it  was  the  first  public  chal- 
lenge made  by  the  Christians  of  central 
Japan  to  their  fellow-countrymen,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  Buddhists ;  because  of  the  length 
of  the  meeting,  the  eighteen  addresses  occu- 
pying almost  all  the  time  from  one  to  ten 


THEMES  OF  SERMONS.  73 

o'clock,  P.  M. ;  because  of  the  number,  char- 
acter, and  ability  of  the  speakers,  the  list 
including  such  names  as  that  of  Neesima, 
Miyagawa,  Morita,  Yokoi,  Ukita,  Yamasaki, 
Uyehara,  Kanamori,  and  other  Japanese,  as 
well  as  a  number  of  missionaries ;  because  of 
the  subjects  treated  of,  which  indicate  the 
broad  thinking  and  boldness  of  utterance 
which  characterize  the  Christian  preachers. 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  give  some  of  these 
subjects :  "  The  Nature  of  God,"  "  Seeing 
the  Invisible  God,"  "The  Importance  of  a 
Revelation,"  "The  Life  of  Christ,"  "The 
Fruits  of  Christianity,"  "  The  Present  Con- 
dition of  Christianity,"  "  Christianity  Suita- 
ble for  AU  the  World,"  "The  Soul,"  "The 
Power  of  Truth,"  "The  Foundation  of  Civil- 
ization," "Faith,"  "Sin,"  "True  Liberty," 
"Amida  Nyorai."  This  last  subject  refers 
to  the  Buddha  worshiped  by  the  most  pop- 
ular sect  in  Japan,  and  was  perhaps  the  first 
attempt  by  a  missionary  to  discuss  publicly 
the  essential  faith  of  many  Buddhists. 

To  the  Christians  this  meeting  brought 
a  great  increase  of  courage.  One  young 
man  returning  to  his  home  exclaimed,  "  To- 
day I  have  seen  the  great  power  of  God." 
The  enemies  of   Christianity  were  equally 


74  THE  FIRST  PRE  AC  n  IN  G. 

impressed,  but  in  a  different  way.  One  of 
them  sent  an  anonymous  letter  to  Mr.  Miya- 
gawa,  the  chairman  of  the  meeting,  denoun- 
cing his  lecture  on  "True  Liberty,"  call- 
ing him  a  very  wicked  man  and  a  stirrer-up 
of  strife,  and  threatening  that  he  should  not 
reach  his  home  alive.  He  knew  his  people 
too  well  to  laugh  at  this  as  an  idle  threat,  but 
quietly  remarking,  "  I  'm  ready,  if  need  be, 
to  be  a  martyr,"  he  went  on  with  his  work. 

The  Japanese  are  wonderfully  patient 
hearers.  Think  of  sitting  through  eleven 
sermons  lasting  four  hours,  with  an  evening 
session  of  similar  length  still  in  prospect! 
And  meetings  of  almost  equal  length  are 
asked  for,  even  when  there  are  only  three  or 
four  speakers.  Once  in  the  city  of  Fukui 
I  was  one  of  several  speakers  who  addressed 
an  audience  of  nearly  fifteen  hundred,  when 
some  of  us  were  asked  for  addresses  of  an 
hour  and  a  half  each.  I  have  again  and 
again  attended  meetings  where  second  and 
third  sermons  were  called  for,  the  Japanese 
audiences  apparently  becoming  most  pleas- 
antly interested  at  the  point  where  an  Amer- 
ican audience  would  be  impatient  for  the 
meeting  to  close. 

The    themes    above    mentioned    indicate 


MEETINGS  DISTURBED.  75 

what  I  believe  to  be  a  fact,  that  in  preach- 
ing in  Japan  we  appeal  to  the  intellect,  to 
the  reasoning  powers  of  our  hearers,  more 
largely  than  is  done  in  ordinary  preaching 
in  the  United  States. 

Japanese  etiquette  comes  in  at  these  meet- 
ings. The  preacher  usually  bows  to  his 
audience  on  beginning,  and  the  people  bow 
in  return.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  this 
is  repeated,  with  a  much  profounder  bow 
from  the  people. 

It  must  not  however  be  inferred  that  the 
meetings  always  go  on  quietly  and  harmo- 
niously to  the  end.  Occasionally  there  are 
those  who  bring  honest  objections  to  the 
new  and  strange  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
preacher.  More  commonly  Buddhist  priests 
or  their  emissaries  are  there  for  the  very 
purpose  of  making  disturbance.  At  one 
time  there  was  a  persistent  effort  of  this 
kind  to  break  up  the  evening  meetings  at  a 
kogisJio  on  Matsuwara  Street,  Kyoto.  Pu- 
pils from  Buddhist  schools  gathered  among 
the  standing  hearers  outside  the  door,  jeered 
at  the  speakers,  attempted  to  drown  their 
voices  by  "  Hear,  hear  !  "  "  No,  no  !  "  and 
other  cries,  and  rushed  from  behind  upon 
the  willing  hearers  in  front,  not  stopping 
short  of  stone-throwing. 


76  THE  FIRST  PREACHING. 

Thinking  that  his  presence  outside  the 
door  might  have  a  restraining  influence,  the 
missionary  in  attendance  stationed  himself 
there  while  the  Japanese  evangelists  were 
speaking;  but  a  native  Christian,  not  regard- 
ing the  position  a  safe  one,  came  out  and 
stood  by  his  side.  This  was  the  signal  for  a 
more  violent  rush,  in  which  this  young  man 
was  dragged  into  the  middle  of  the  street 
and  shamefully  and  severely  handled.  The 
missionary  had  purposed  not  to  leave  his 
vantage-ground  by  the  door,  but  he  could 
not  but  go  to  the  rescue  of  his  maltreated 
defender,  in  doing  which  he  himself  received 
several  kicks  and  blows,  but  no  serious  in- 
jury. 

In  several  places  the  interruptions  have 
been  far  more  serious  than  this.  The  stones 
thrown  in  the  village  of  Komatsu  in  Shi- 
koku  have  since  been  built  into  the  founda- 
tions of  the  church,  and  I  think  the  same 
thing  has  happened  elsewhere.  In  Takaha- 
shi,  a  hahugioai  ishi  (stone  of  persecution) 
of  four  pounds'  weight  is  kept  on  exhibition. 
On  several  occasions  missionaries  have  been 
saved  from  great  violence  only  by  the  inter- 
vention of  the  police. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JAPANESE  PREACHERS. 

The  Japanese  have  not  been  accustomed 
to  public  speaking  except  in  a  very  re- 
stricted way.  Besides  that  of  the  shibai 
SiJidjorwi  (a  kind  of  opera),  which  was  not 
worthy  of  the  name,  there  were  only  the 
hanashika,  and  the  Shinto  and  Buddhist 
priests.  These  hanashika,  as  their  name  in- 
dicates, are  simply  public  storj^-tellers  who 
amuse  and  excite  their  hearers  by  tales  of 
love  and  war.  They  speak  the  language  of 
the  common  people,  draw  largely  from  the 
national  folklore,  and  often  show  a  good 
deal  of  power  in  moving  their  audiences. 
The  Shinto  priests  go  but  little  beyond  the 
mere  recitation  of  their  mythology,  and  ap- 
peals, based  thereon,  to  their  hearers'  patriot- 
ism; for  a  religion  that,  in  the  language  of 
Prof.  Chamberlain,  "  has  no  set  of  dogmas, 
no  sacred  book,  no  moral  code,"  has  little 
call  to  preach.  Buddhism  attaches  more 
importance  to  preaching  than  does  any  other 


78  JAPANESE  PREACHERS. 

non-Christian  religion,  and  in  Japan  has 
produced  some  preachers  of  considerable 
ability.  However,  its  priests  have  long 
been  so  lazy  and  immoral  — due  in  part  per- 
haps to  centuries  of  patronage  —  that  their 
preaching  has  had  but  very  little  power  over 
the  people.  Possibly  the  last  decade,  dur- 
ing which  they  have  been  spurred  to  activity 
and  greater  attention  to  morality  by  the  suc- 
cess of  Christianity,  ought  to  be  made  an 
exception  to  the  above  strong  statement.^ 

There  were  no  political  speeches,  for  the 
reason  that  politics  and  political  parties 
were  unknown.  Education  was  mainly  a 
matter  of  teaching  the  Chinese  characters 
and  the  Confucian  code  of  morals,  —  quite 
exclusively  the  work  of  the  pedagogue. 
And,  so,  as  has  already  been  intimated,  pub- 
lic speaking  was  not  among  the  national 
traditions,  but  was  to  our  early  Christians 
an   unfamiliar  art.     It  must   be  conceded, 

1  The  editor  of  the  Japan  Mail  wrote,  under  date  of 
November  15,  1888,  "Until  the  past  few  years  Buddhism 
has  virtually  fallen  asleep  in  Japan.  Only  to-day  is  there 
any  evidence  of  a  really  earnest  attempt  to  revive  it. 
And  to  what  is  that  attempt  avowedly  due  ?  To  contact 
with  militant  Christianity.  '  Unless  we  stir  ourselves,' 
the  Buddhists  say,  '  we  cannot  hope  to  hold  our  ground 
against  this  energetic,  untiring  propagandism.'  " 


INSPIRERS   OF  CONDUCT.  79 

however,  that  they  took  hold  of  it  with  a 
great  deal  of  readiness  and  tact,  and  that 
they  have  carried  it  to  a  high  degree  of  suc- 
cess. Not  a  few  of  them  have  become  in- 
spirers  of  conduct,  real  ethical  leaders  of 
their  people.  The  best  speakers  among  the 
missionaries  are  put  to  their  mettle  to  keep 
pace  with  them.  Of  course,  the  missionary 
is  at  a  great  disadvantage,  because  he  must 
speak  in  a  language  which  is  not  his  vernac- 
ular, and  of  whose  literature  he  has  of  ne- 
cessity but  a  limited  knowledge.  But  more 
than  one  missionary  believes  that,  aside 
from  these  disadvantages,  the  Japanese  are 
naturally  better  speakers  than  Americans. 
Speaking  in  public  comes  easier  to  them. 
They  are  bright,  impulsive,  sympathetic, 
quick  to  discern  an  advantage  gained,  fertile 
in  illustrations,  and  skillful  in  applying 
them  ;  qualities  which  go  far  to  make  up 
the  successful  speaker. 

It  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  give  a  few 
examples  of  this  last  quality.  One  of  the 
earliest  that  I  remember  was  that  by  which 
the  preacher  showed  his  idol-worshiping 
countrymen  that  they  are  less  discerning  than 
chikusho.,  birds  and  beasts.  For  however 
skillfully  a  scarecrow  may  be  made,  by  the 


80  JAPANESE  PREACHERS. 

second  or  third  day  the  crows  will  discern 
that  it  has  neither  life  nor  power.  The  de- 
scription of  the  crows'  process  of  arriving 
at  this  knowledge  was  given  by  a  few  bold 
but  natural  strokes,  and  prepared  the  way 
for  a  startlingly  vivid  picture  of  the  idola- 
ter's dullness.  It  was  like  Isaiah's  "  The 
ox  knoweth  his  owner,  and  the  ass  his  mas- 
ter's crib,  but  Israel  doth  not  know,  my 
people  doth  not  consider." 

I  have  also  heard  the  absurdity  of  idolatry 
shown  up  by  the  following  well  authenticated 
story.  A  certain  judge  —  the  father  of  one 
of  our  pastors  —  was  appointed  to  a  station 
in  a  country  town.  Having  taken  a  house 
in  the  suburbs,  he  experienced  great  annoy- 
ance from  the  throwing  of  rubbish  by  the 
townspeople  on  the  vacant  lot  opposite  his 
residence.  How  he  could  rid  himself  of 
the  nuisance  was  long  a  perplexing  problem. 
Finally,  a  bright  thought  struck  him.  Se- 
curing a  small  stone  idol  which  some  boys 
had  found  near  an  old  shrine,  he  one  night 
had  it  set  up  upon  the  vacant  lot.  The 
next  morning  a  man  from  the  town  came 
trotting  along  with  two  baskets  of  rubbish 
suspended  from  a  pole  which  he  carried  on 
his   shoulder  in  the  usual  way.     Just  as  he 


A  JUDGE'S  RUSE.  81 

was  about  to  dump  his  load  he  caught  sight 
of  the  idol,  and,  startled  by  the  sudden  ap- 
parition and  frightened  by  the  danger  of 
committing  an  act  of  sacrilege  which  he 
had  so  narrowly  escaped,  he  jogged  on  to 
the  next  vacant  lot  with  his  rubbish,  as  did 
others  who  followed  him.  Two  or  three 
days  afterward  there  was  a  consultation, 
and  a  dozen  of  the  townspeople  came  with 
hoes  and  brooms  and  cleared  the  lot  of  all 
rubbish ;  and  not  long  afterwards  other  de- 
vout ones  came  and  erected  a  roof  over 
the  idol  and  placed  a  stone  basin  in  front  of 
it.  The  final  stage  was  reached  when  the 
judge  saw  people  bringing  their  sick  and, 
after  worshiping  the  idol,  washing  the  dis- 
eased parts  with  "holy  water"  from  the 
basin  ! 

Another,  in  describing  the  idolater's  treat- 
ment of  the  true  God,  said,  "  He  is  like  a 
child,  in  the  arms  of  a  father  standing  be- 
fore a  mirror,  who  turns  from  his  loving 
father's  embrace  to  the  lifeless  shadow  of 
the  father  in  the  mirror." 

A  preacher  who  was  speaking  of  the  fact 
that  the  gospel  is  preached  not  by  angels  or 
other  sinless  beings,  but  by  men  who  have 
known  through  experience  the  effects  of  sin, 


82  JAPANESE  PREACHERS. 

told  how,  when  he  was  being  vaccinated,  he 
looked  up  at  the  face  of  the  physician  who 
was  performing  the  operation,  and  found  it 
covered  with  pockmarks. 

Another  preacher  spoke  of  the  fact  that 
old  Japanese  armor  is  too  large  for  the  men 
of  the  present  generation.  This  proves 
physical  deterioration  because  of  the  viola- 
tion of  hygienic  laws.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  old  armor  in  the  Tower  of  London,  being 
too  small  for  modern  Englishmen,  proves 
the  reverse.  From  this,  the  application  to 
shrunken,  deteriorated  souls  was  swift  and 
strong. 

The  biographies  of  Dr.  Neesima  clearly 
show  what  a  place  in  his  thought  and  life 
John  iii.  16  had.  I  shall  always  remember 
the  power  with  which  he  used  it  in  his 
first  sermon  in  Central  Japan  upon  his  re- 
turn from  America.  After  a  description  of 
the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  Fujisan,  the 
peerless  mountain  of  Japan,  as  seen  from 
the  deck  of  the  steamer  which  brought  him 
to  Kobe,  —  a  description  admirably  fitted  to 
appeal  to  every  Japanese  heart,  showing,  as 
it  did,  that  long  residence  abroad  had  not 
made  him  insensible  to  the  beauties  of  his 
native  land,  —  he  introduced  this  passage  as 


THE  SECRET  OF  THEIR   POWER.        83 

the  "  Fujisan  of  the  Bible."  The  author  re- 
calls with  pleasure  two  men,  whom  he  in- 
vited to  that  service  to  hear  "  the  returned 
Japanese,"  whose  special  interest  in  Christi- 
anity began  with  that  sermon.  Dr.  Neesima 
was  not  so  much  of  an  orator  naturally  as 
many  others  of  our  preachers  were,  but  his 
sermons  were  characterized  by  a  modesty, 
simplicity,  and  tenderness  which,  together 
with  his  remarkable  history  and  nobility  of 
life,  always  gave  them  great  power. 

It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  give  in 
detail  the  characteristics  of  our  leading 
preachers,  not  only  of  the  older  and  better- 
known  men,  such  as  Miyagawa,  Matsuyama, 
Ebina,  Kozaki,  Yokoi,  and  others,  many  of 
whom  have  already  been  referred  to,  but 
also  of  the  younger  men,  like  Hori,  Osada, 
Abe,  Homma,  Murata,  Harada,  and  others, 
who,  with  perhaps  a  less  striking  experience, 
are  not  less  gifted,  not  less  zealous,  not  less 
successful ;  but  time  will  not  allow  of  this. 

After  all,  the  secret  of  the  power  wielded 
by  these  men  is  not  so  much  in  special  ora- 
torical gifts  as  in  the  new  life  and  exalted 
purpose  with  which  the  religion  of  Christ  has 
filled  them.  The  difference  in  the  spirit 
with  which  our  graduates  leave  the  Doshisha 


84  JAPANESE  PREACHERS. 

from  that  which  characterizes  the  average 
graduate  of  the  government  schools  has  al- 
ready attracted  wide  attention  and  comment. 
An  official  of  the  educational  department, 
not  friendly  to  Christianity,  once  attended 
our  commencement,  with  the  thought  of  re- 
maining through  only  a  small  part  of  the 
exercises;  but  he  was  so  attracted  and  im- 
pressed by  the  earnest  spirit  of  the  gradu- 
ates as  manifest  in  their  speeches  that,  as 
he  told  the  officer  in  question  the  next  day, 
he  broke  an  official  engagement,  and  stayed 
through  to  the  end.  It  is  this  earnestness 
of  purpose,  this  high  ideal  of  life,  which  has 
seized  upon  the  attention  of  their  country- 
men wherever  these  men  have  gone,  and  has 
made  them  prophets  of  God,  preachers  of 
righteousness  to  them. 

Take  a  recent  example.  In  September, 
1890,  Mr.  J.  Takenouchi  went  to  Miyadzu, 
to  take  up  work  there  which  had  been  be- 
gun by  a  student  in  the  preceding  summer 
vacation.  This  was  at  the  time  when  the 
anti-foreign  reaction  was  strong,  and  the 
liberal  theological  movement  at  its  zenith, 
though  neither  of  these  movements  was  felt 
so  much  there  as  in  some  other  cities.  This 
young  man  worked  so  quietly  and  success- 


THEIR  TRIUMPHS,  85 

fully  that,  in  April  of  the  following  year, 
twenty-five  persons  —  adults —  made  a  pub- 
lic confession  of  Christ,  and  united  in  form- 
ing a  church.  Among  these  were  four  men 
and  their  wives.  The  principal  of  a  large 
primary  school,  and  the  leading  teacher  in  a 
grammar  school,  and  their  wives,  were  among 
the  converts,  although  both  had  been  threat- 
ened with  dismissal  if  they  persisted.  Not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  they  had  families 
dependent  upon  them,  they  did  persist,  and 
were  thrown  out  of  their  positions.  Another 
of  those  baptized  was  a  woman  who  had  kept 
a  house  of  ill-repute.  She  closed  this  busi- 
ness and  sent  away  the  inmates,  at  considera- 
ble pecuniary  loss.  In  the  following  year 
twenty  others  were  added  to  this  church, 
including  the  husband  and  the  daughters  of 
this  woman.  A  family  of  eight  persons  has 
thus  been  rescued  from  this  degraded  life, 
and  brought  into  the  church  of  Christ !  In 
another  such  house  in  the  same  city,  two 
daughters  have  been  impelled  to  leave  their 
homes  by  the  same  preaching.  I  know  a 
country  town  in  which  the  proprietors  of 
four  similar  houses  have  become  Christians, 
and  gone  into  other  employments.  Such 
results  are  the  preacher's  greatest  triumphs. 


CHAPTER  VIIL 
TOURING. 

One  important  mode  of  spreading  the 
gospel  is  evangelistic  touring.  In  planning 
for  this,  one  needs  first  to  arrange  for  a 
passport,  without  which  traveling  in  the  in- 
terior is  impossible. 

Foreigners  are  allowed  by  the  treaties  to 
reside  in  narrow  grants  of  land,  called  "  Con- 
cessions," specially  set  apart  for  them  in 
several  "  open  ports,"  and  have  the  privilege 
of  going  inland  from  any  one  of  these  a  dis- 
tance of  ten  H,  or  twenty-five  miles,  without 
passports.  To  secure  permission  to  reside 
elsewhere  than  on  or  near  these  "  Foreign 
Concessions,"  one  must  become  an  employee 
of  the  government,  or  of  some  private  indi- 
vidual or  company.  Missionaries  are,  of 
course,  subject  to  these  regulations,  just  as 
other  foreigners  are,  and  this  will  explain 
the  fact,  which  has  puzzled  not  a  few  Ameri- 
can friends,  that  so  many  missionaries  are 
concentrated  in  the  ports.     To   avoid  this 


NECESSITY  OF  PASSPORTS.  87 

undesirable  concentration,  and  that  they 
may  live  in  closer  association  with  the  peo- 
ple, many  gladly  become  Japanese  employees, 
agreeing  to  teach  a  greater  or  less  number 
of  hours  each  day,  although  such  a  course 
involves  a  loss  of  time  for  mission  work 
and  the  study  of  the  language,  and  brings 
many  other  restrictions  and  inconveniences. 
For  example,  the  missionary's  house,  if  he 
build  one,  must  be  held  in  the  name  of  his 
Japanese  employer,  as  foreigners  are  not 
allowed  to  hold  real  estate  except  on  the 
Foreign  Concessions.  Many  would  gladly 
put  themselves  entirely  under  Japanese  law 
if  permitted  to  reside  in  the  interior.  The 
government,  which  rightly  feels  itself  un- 
justly dealt  with  by  the  existing  treaties, 
has  been  unwilling  to  grant  this  permis- 
sion. Very  recently,  freedom  of  residence 
and  travel  has  been  specially  granted  to  Rev. 
Dr.  Verbeck  and  family.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  if  it  be  found  to  work  well  in  this  case, 
similar  favors  will  be  given  to  others. 

So,  too,  for  traveling  in  the  interior,  pass- 
ports are  a  necessity,  and  must  be  secured 
from  the  central  government.  By  a  resi- 
dent at  one  of  the  ports,  they  are  applied 
for  through  his  consul ;  by  one  in  Japanese 
employ,  through  his  employer. 


88  TOURING. 

A  very  uncomfortable  thing  about  these 
passports  is  that  they  are  granted  only  "  for 
health  or  scientific  purposes."  Because  of 
this  fact,  some  missionaries  are  unwilling  to 
use  them  for  evangelistic  touring,  and  so 
confine  themselves  to  the  vicinity  of  the 
open  ports.  Others  hold  "for  health  or 
scientific  purposes  "  to  be  a  technical  phrase 
whose  real  object  is  to  prevent  trade  in  the 
interior.  The  ready  granting  of  these  pass- 
ports to  "  globe-trotters,"  circus  companies, 
and  so  on,  gives  color  to  this  view.  It  is 
said  that  high  officials  have  given  this  inter- 
pretation, that  the  touring  is  done  openly 
and  aboveboard,  often  with  protection  from 
the  government,  —  in  some  cases,  known  to 
have  been  directed  from  the  capital.  The 
writer  once  heard  a  very  influential  cabinet 
minister  say  that  he  was  glad  to  see  the 
spread  of  Christianity ;  and  it  was  said  at 
the  same  interview  that  the  government  did 
not  object  to  such  use  of  these  passports. 
The  government  has,  however,  been  vacillat- 
ing in  its  interpretations ;  and  although,  in 
recent  years,  some  missionaries  have  received 
passports  to  do  evangelistic  work  as  em- 
ployees of  a  church,  all  will  heartily  welcome 
the   revision  of  the   treaties,  or  any  other 


JINRIKISHA   TRAVEL.  89 

event  which  will  bring  relief  from  this  un- 
comfortable question. 

In  traveling  in  Japan  we  can  on  the 
one  hand  make  use  of  railway  cars  and 
steamboats,  and  on  the  other  we  are,  for 
lack  of  roads,  sometimes  obliged  to  walk 
long  distances  ;  but  our  main  reliance  is  the 
jinrikisha,  a  vehicle  of  very  recent  origin, 
but  now  of  universal  use.  For  convenience, 
if  not  for  comfort,  it  is  unsurpassed.  One 
drawn  by  a  single  man  can  be  hired  for 
from  five  to  eight  cents  an  hour  when  shop- 
ping or  visiting  in  the  city,  or  for  about 
three  cents  a  mile  on  the  road.  In  ascend- 
ing long  hills  a  merciful  traveler  will  either 
walk  a  part  of  the  way,  or  employ  a  sahi- 
hiki^  a  second  man,  to  run  tandem. .  In  a 
hurried  journey  over  rough  roads,  or  in  wet 
weather,  two  men  are  often  used. 

"  How  far  can  one  of  these  men  go  in  a 
day  ?  "  is  a  question  often  asked.  The  fol- 
lowing incident  is  an  answer  to  that  ques- 
tion. Not  long  ago  a  lady  living  in  Kyoto, 
wishing  to  join  her  husband  who  was  tour- 
ing in  the  provinces  of  Tamba  and  Tango, 
went  to  a  neighboring  stand  and  engaged  a 
jinrikisha  to  take  her  and  her  ten-year-old 
daughter  on  the  following  day  to  Fukuchi- 


90  TOURING. 

yama,  twenty-three  W  (fifty -seven  miles) 
away.  Her  thought  was,  that  the  man,  after 
running  ten  or  fifteen  miles,  would  sell  out 
his  bargain  to  a  new  man,  this  process  to 
be  repeated  several  times  later  on.  This  is 
a  very  common  practice.  For  some  reason, 
however,  perhaps  as  a  mere  trial  of  endur- 
ance, this  young  fellow  wished  to  go  the 
whole  distance.  He  did  this  with  his  two 
passengers,  getting  help  only  up  two  or 
three  long  hills,  in  about  twelve  hours. 

Life  in  Japanese  hotels  is  another  feature 
of  touring.  These  differ  not  a  little  from 
American  hotels.  In  entering  and  leaving 
the  best  room,  which  is  always  in  the  rear 
of  the  house,  one  usually  passes  through  the 
kitchen,  and  can  see  the  food  in  various 
stages  of  preparation;  and  landlord  and 
landlady,  cook  and  waitresses,  assemble  in 
the  passage  to  bow  him  in  and  out,  and  with 
shouts  of  0  hayo  oide  nasatta,  "  You  have 
come  with  august  earliness,"  or  Dozo  o  hayo 
o  kaeri  nasaimase,  "Please  return  with 
honorable  earliness,"  they  "welcome  the 
coming  and  speed  the  parting  guest." 

The  bathroom,  also,  he  passes  by  the 
way  ;  and  if  the  tired  traveler  wisely  decides 
to  try  a  Japanese  bath,  he  will  sometimes  be 


HOTELS.  91 

fortunate  enough  to  find  himself  protected 
from  the  common  gaze  by  glass  windows  or 
mosquito-netting  doors. 

In  ordinary  hotels,  one  does  not  find  ta- 
bles, chairs,  knives,  forks,  spoons,  bread, 
butter,  coffee,  or  milk,  and  yet  he  can  find 
a  good  deal  of  comfort  in  them  if  he  knows 
how  to  look  for  it.  Some  tourists  take  a  full 
supply  of  food  ;  others  take  bread  and  but- 
ter and  canned  meats,  etc.,  to  supplement 
the  food  furnished  by  the  hotels ;  a  very 
few  can  enjoy  and  thrive  on  Japanese  food 
alone.  The  food  furnished  by  good  hotels 
near  the  coast,  where  fish  are  plentiful,  is, 
to  the  experienced  palate,  both  relishable 
and  nourishing,  though  the  best  of  us  miss 
our  cup  of  coffee  for  breakfast.  The  prices 
are  not  exorbitant,  as  the  following  list, 
copied  from  a  notice  (in  Japanese)  in  a 
hotel  in  which  I  stopped  shortly  before  leav- 
ing Japan,  will  show : 

1st  class.        2d  class.        3d  class. 

Supper,  lodging,  and 

breakfast  ...  25  sen.  20  sen.  15  sen. 
Dinner 15    "       10     "         8     " 

In  addition  to  this,  one  must  pay  for  food 
specially  ordered,  and  there  always  is,  when 
taking  more  than  a  single  meal,  the  chadai 


92  "  TOURING. 

(literally,  tea-price),  —  a  tip,  not  to  the  ser- 
vants, but  to  the  landlord,  for  serving  tea, 
sweetmeats,  etc.,  in  addition  to  the  meals. 
For  a  cup  of  tea,  when  stopping  for  a  rest  by 
the  wayside,  one  or  two  sen  is  sufficient;  at 
a  hotel  it  ranges  from  ten  sen  (cents)  up- 
wards, according  to  the  size  of  the  party  and 
the  length  of  time  spent.  The  Japanese  al- 
ways pay  tliis ;  and  the  missionary  or  other 
foreigner  who  neglects  or  refuses  it,  on  the 
ground  that  he  has  "  paid  his  bill,"  violates 
one  of  the  Japanese  proprieties,  and  so,  un- 
consciously but  grievously,  offends  where  he 
was  specially  desirous  of  pleasing,  —  another 
illustration  of  the  importance  of  knowing  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  people.  One 
great  objection  to  Japanese  hotels  is  their 
lack  of  retirement  and  quiet.  An  occasional 
one  will  have  a  best  room,  separated  from  the 
rest  of  the  house ;  but  usually  thin  paper 
doors  alone  separate  your  room  from  two  or 
three  others.  Sometimes  your  nearest  neigh- 
bor will  be  a  man  who,  unable  to  sleep,  spends 
a  great  part  of  the  night  in  reading  aloud 
from  some  Japanese  or  Chinese  book.  Or 
there  may  be  a  party  who  call  in  geisha  (low 
women  who  sing,  play,  and  dance)  and  make 
night  hideous  with  their  revelry. 


CALLERS.  93 

When  the  coming  of  a  missionary  is  ex- 
pected, the  Christians  usually  engage,  in 
advance,  the  best  and  quietest  hotel,  and 
are  there  to  meet  him  on  his  arrival.  Fre- 
quently they  have  one  or  more  of  their  num- 
ber remain  with  him  all  the  time,  seeing 
that  his  food  is  properly  prepared  and 
brought  on,  often  serving  it  themselves. 
These  assist  the  waiters  in  preparing  his 
bed  for  the  night,  and  in  removing  it  in  the 
morning,  and  in  a  thousand  ways  show  their 
unbounded  kindness  of  heart.  Especially 
in  the  early  days  of  work  in  a  town  or  city, 
there  are  sure  to  be  callers,  inquirers  about 
Christian  truth  and  European  ways,  until 
late  at  night,  and  then  they  or  others  are 
back  before  our  tourist  is  up  in  the  morn- 
ing. This  is  what  makes  touring  so  wear- 
ing. Should  the  missionary  be  in  company 
with  a  Japanese  pastor,  he  may  be  relieved 
partly  or  wholly  of  this  work.  The  writer 
recalls  evenings  spent  in  hotels  with  Dr. 
Neesima  when  he  would  go  to  sleep  about 
midnight,  leaving  that  good  brother  patiently 
answering  the  inquiries  of  some  caller,  to 
be  awakened  at  four  o'clock  the  next  morn- 
ing by  the  sound  of  a  similar  conversation 
going  on  between  him  and  some  one  else. 


94  TOURING. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  his  death  was  has- 
tened by  inconsiderate  demands  upon  his 
strength,  and  especially  by  his  being  thus 
robbed  of  sleep. 

Occasionally  we  are  invited  to  the  house 
of  a  pastor  or  other  Christian.  To  one  un- 
accustomed to  Japanese  food,  such  experi- 
ences are  sometimes  trying,  because  of  the 
difficulty  of  avoiding  offense,  either  to  one's 
palate  or  to  the  sensibilities  of  the  kind 
host  and  hostess.  It  has  given  us  a  grain  of 
comfort  to  know  that,  when  the  tables  were 
turned  and  they  became  our  guests,  they 
sometimes  experienced  a  similar  difficulty 
with  our  cuisine^  though  in  this,  as  in  other 
things,  they  are  quicker  to  learn  than  we. 

But  these  occasions  are,  as  a  rule,  remem- 
bered with  joy.  I  recall  with  special  plea- 
sure one  such,  where  I  spent  two  nights, 
and  the  included  day,  in  a  country  house. 
The  host  was  a  landholder  of  considerable 
means,  a  physician  and  druggist,  a  salce 
brewer,  the  head  man  of  his  village  and  dis- 
trict, and  the  representative  of  his  county  in 
the  prefectural  legislature.  His  wife,  his 
mother,  his  two  adopted  sons  now  away  at 
medical  schools,  and  other  relatives,  were 
Christians,   and    himself    a    constant    and 


EOSPITALITT.  95 

friendly  student  of  Cliristianity.  He  had 
not  progressed  farther,  because  he  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  stop  brewing  sake. 

The  oku-zashiki  (back  parlor)  was  made 
our  sitting-  and  dining-room,  and  my  sleep- 
ing-room, as  the  evangelist  who  accompa- 
nied me,  and  who  sat  and  ate  with  me, 
slept  in  an  adjoining*  apartment.  Every- 
thing about  us  was  apparently  new,  and 
scrupulously  neat  and  clean.  As  usual, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  room  except  a  sin- 
gle picture  hanging  on  the  wall,  and  a  rug, 
with  two  hihachi  filled  with  glowing  coals 
upon  it,  covering  the  straw-matted  floor. 
On  entering,  the  wife,  who  had  just  brought 
the  hibachi,  came  again  with  the  chadogu, 
the  hot  water,  the  tray,  the  tiny  teapot,  the 
canister,  cups,  and  other  articles  necessary  for 
tea-making.  The  husband  made  the  tea,  first 
cooling  the  water  below  the  boiling-point, 
so  as  not  to  take  too  much  of  the  strength 
at  the  first  drawing,  then  poured  it  into  the 
tiny  cups,  which  the  wife  passed  to  the 
guests.  At  mealtime,  much  the  same  pro- 
cess was  gone  through.  No  servant  ap- 
peared, though  several  were  in  the  house, 
but  host  and  hostess  served  the  excellent 
food,  —  fish,  rice,  lily  bulbs,  boiled  chestnuts, 


96  TOURING. 

turnips,  etc.,  etc.,  —  with  their  own  hands. 
The  second  day  a  chicken,  dressed  and  cut 
up  into  bits  of  one  or  two  ounces  in  weight, 
was  brought  in.  This  was  cooked,  then  and 
there,  over  the  hihachi^  boiled  in  a  shal- 
low vessel,  with  sugar  and  slioyu.  This 
shoi/u  is  prepared  bj  fermenting  wheat  and 
beans,  and  is  said  to  be  the  principal  ingre- 
dient in  the  well-known  "  Worcestershire 
Sauce."  It  is  used  with  almost  every  ar- 
ticle of  diet  in  Japan.  My  fellow-traveler, 
a  beloved  evangelist,  acted  as  cook,  and  the 
result  proved  the  skill  which  I  had  often 
tested  elsewhere.  Of  course,  we  were  all  on 
our  knees  on  the  matted  floor,  and  knives, 
forks,  and  spoons  did  not  appear  in  con- 
nection with  the  very  enjoyable  repast. 

As  bedtime  approaches,  there  is  the  usual 
announcement  that  "  the  bath  is  ready," 
and  the  guest,  as  a  matter  of  course,  has  the 
offer  of  entering  first.  Where  there  are  a 
number  of  guests,  each  will  in  politeness 
urge  the  claims  of  others  to  precedence,  much 
as,  in  a  slow  mule  race,  each  rider  of  his 
neighbor's  mule  will  goad  him  onward  so  as 
to  secure  the  last  place  for  his  own  mule. 
The  great  heat  of  the  water  used  in  these 
baths,   and    the  fact  that   the   same  water 


EVENING  MEETINGS.  97 

serves  for  a  series  —  be  it  longer  or  shorter 
—  of  bathers,  are  facts  too  well  known  to 
need  repetition  here. 

Such  occasions  as  this  are  not  only  highly- 
enjoyable  ;  they  are  invaluable  as  a  means 
of  drawing  close  together.  They  are  sure 
to  lead  to  a  frank  discussion  of  national 
peculiarities,  elements  of  strength  and  weak- 
ness, with  the  need  and  methods  of  reform, 
both  in  America  and  Japan ;  they  also 
tempt  to  a  mutual  relation  of  personal  ex- 
periences, and  so  lead  on  to  earnest  words 
from  the  depths  of  hearts  light  and  warm 
with  Christian  love  to  those  who  acknow- 
ledge and  regret  that  they  are  still  walking 
in  darkness. 

The  first  evening  we  walked  out  about 
two  miles  to  a  village,  where  a  meeting  was 
held  in  the  house  of  a  school-teacher,  whose 
face  reflected  the  new  light  and  joy  that  had 
recently  come  into  his  heart.  Between  fifty 
and  sixty  persons  filled  his  zashiki  and  lis- 
tened to  the  two  sermons.  Of  course,  there 
was  tea -drinking  all  round,  and  talk  of 
various  kinds,  which  delayed  our  return  till 
midnight.  The  second  evening  we  went 
about  an  equal  distance  in  a  different  direc- 
tion, where,  despite  the  pouring  rain,  more 


98  TOURING. 

than  a  hundred  were  gathered  in  a  rude 
schoolhouse  to  listen  to  the  strange-looking 
foreigner's  attemj^ts  to  talk  Japanese. 

And  so  the  tourist  goes  on  his  way. 
Sometimes  his  best  work  is  in  a  family  like 
that  just  referred  to,  talking  with  them  of 
life  and  its  problems,  explaining  the  Scrip- 
tures as  they  are  read  by  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  family  in  turn,  and  praying  for 
them  and  with  them  for  the  Great  Father's 
blessing.  Sometimes  —  and  I  am  now  think- 
ing of  one  special  trip  —  it  is  reading  and 
praying  with  a  few  women  in  a  farmhouse ; 
a  dozen  friends  and  relatives  gathered  in  a 
shopkeeper's  best  room  ;  a  Sunday  with  a 
laborious  evangelist,  where  baptism  and  the 
Lord's  Supper  are,  in  a  city  of  twenty  thou- 
sand, administered  for  the  first  time  ;  a  meet- 
ing of  a  hundred  and  more  in  a  rifle-club 
room  in  a  town  where  we  are  entertained  by 
a  Christian  tax-gatherer  ;  baptisms  and  com- 
munion in  a  country  village,  and  an  evening 
meeting  in  a  theatre,  where  twelve  hundred 
people,  almost  every  one  of  whom  hear  for 
the  first  time,  crowd  even  the  stage,  until  there 
is  barely  standing-room  for  the  preachers  ;  a 
meeting  in  the  best  hotel  of  a  city,  where  three 
hundred  of  the  most  enlightened  people  of 


VARIED  EXPERIENCES.  99 

the  place  are  admitted  by  ticket;  dinner 
with  the  public  prosecutor  of  a  large  dis- 
trict, whose  wife,  son,  and  two  daughters  are 
members  of  the  church ;  the  first  public 
meeting  held  by  Protestants  in  a  city  of  ten 
thousand,  where  a  small  theatre  full  of 
hearers  listen  for  two  hours  and  a  half  with 
an  interest  which  is  fairly  painful,  and  where 
the  seven  scattered  Christians,  most  of  them 
hitherto  unknown  to  each  other,  unite  them- 
selves by  a  covenant  to  forsake  not  the  as- 
sembling of  themselves  together,  —  a  cove- 
nant which  has  since  borne  good  fruit.  And 
then  on  through  other  Christian  communi- 
ties, where,  with  some  things  to  discourage, 
there  is  much  to  give  hope,  the  tourist  and 
his  associate  go,  thanking  God  constantly 
that  they  have  been  counted  worthy  to  be 
put  in  trust  with  such  a  glorious  gospel. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

COMING   TO  THE   LIGHT. 

One  of  the  missionary's  greatest  privileges 
is  that  of  witnessing  the  divine  way  in  which 
the  gospel  attracts  men.  By  this  I  do  not 
mean  that  people  are  always  ready  to  re- 
ceive and  obey  the  truth  when  presented  in 
purity  and  simplicity.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  multitudes  are  not  thirsting:  for  the 
gospel.  This  is  implied  in  the  blessing  pro- 
nounced by  our  Lord  upon  the  limited  num- 
ber who  are  hungering  and  thirsting  after 
righteousness.  It  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
fact  that  He  who  was  the  embodiment  of 
grace  and  truth  had  but  a  handful  of  disci- 
ples at  his  death.  No  ;  man,  who  was  made 
for  Truth  and  God,  is  too  often  indifferent 
to  both.  It  remains  true,  however,  that  God 
is  not  wholly  forgotten.  Man  is  everywhere 
a  religious  being,  and  Christianity  again  and 
again  shows  its  divine  power  by  sounding 
depths  of  the  human  heart  unreached  by 
other    religions,   and    by   satisfying    wants 


POWER   OF  A  SERENE  FACE.  101 

which  other  religions  have  served  mainly  to 
intensify.  The  young  church  of  Japan  fur- 
nishes many  illustrations  of  this  truth. 

An  influential  man  in  a  central  province, 
a  member  of  the  prefectural  legislature,  was 
so  overwhelmed  by  business  and  family  trou- 
bles that  he  determined  upon  suicide.  With 
this  in  mind,  he  left  his  home  and  took 
passage  on  a  small  coasting  steamer.  One 
of  our  missionary  ladies,  who,  with  a  Japa- 
nese associate,  was  on  an  evangelistic  tour, 
happened  to  be  a  passenger  on  the  same 
steamer.  When  this  man,  who  was  deter- 
mined on  putting  an  end  to  his  own  life  as 
the  only  way  of  avoiding  trouble,  looked  upon 
the  lady's  serene  face,  he  said  to  himseK : 
"  Peace  is  attainable  even  in  this  world  of 
trouble,  for  her  face  shows  that  she  is  the 
possessor  of  it."  He  opened  conversation, 
first,  with  the  Japanese  associate,  and  then 
with  the  lady  herself,  and  as  a  result  he 
became  an  inquirer,  later  a  convert,  and  then 
an  evangelist.  He  is  now  in  the  Doshisha 
theological  school  at  Kyoto,  well  on  in  his 
preparation  for  the  ministry,  a  living  monu- 
ment to  the  unconscious  influence  of  charac- 
ter as  revealed  in  the  human  face. 

Here  is  another  instance,  different  from  the 


102  COMING  TO  THE  LIGHT. 

foregoing,  but  no  less  impressive,  —  worthy, 
I  think,  of  narrating  at  some  length :  In 
1854,  in  the  village  of  Amino  in  the  province 
of  Tango,  a  death  occurred  in  a  wealthy  and 
prominent  family.  Not  much  was  thought 
of  it,  since  people  must  die,  and  the  loss  was 
banished  from  the  minds  of  friends  by  the 
usual  empty  Buddhist  ceremony  and  plenty 
of  sake-drinking.  You  may  know  that  the 
Japanese  have  hitherto  divided  the  years 
into  cycles  of  twelve,  each  one  called  after 
an  animal.  Rat,  Bull,  Tiger,  Hare,  and  so  on  ; 
and  it  was  written  over  this  one's  grave  that 
he  had  died  in  Tiger  year.  Well,  nothing 
more  was  thought  of  it  until  the  Tiger  year 
came  around  again,  and  then  the  husband 
and  father  sickened  and  died.  Superstitious 
as  the  Japanese  are,  they  could  not  fail  to  be 
deeply  impressed  by  this  second  death  ;  and, 
though  the  loss  was  gotten  over  in  the  same 
way  as  before,  two  tombstones  belonging  to 
one  famil}^  with  the  Tiger  year  inscribed  on 
both,  were  enough  to  make  that  year  looked 
on  as  a  fated  one  in  that  household.  No- 
thing further  of  interest  occurred  during 
that  cycle.  The  widow,  a  woman  of  energy 
and  directing  power,  carried  on  the  family 
business   of   making  silk  crepe,  which  has 


"  WHOSE   TURN   TO  DIE?"  103 

made  that  village  and  district  famous,  and 
prosperity  followed  her  plans  until  the 
dreaded  and  fatal  Tiger  year  again  came 
along  with  January,  1878.  At  New  Year's, 
all  through  Japan,  business  is  suspended,  and 
the  people  give  themselves  over  to  unre- 
strained merry-making  and  indulgence.  But 
among  the  outwardly  merry  there  are  always 
some  with  heavy  hearts,  concealing  a  sorrow 
or  dread,  and,  by  concealing  it,  trying  to 
deceive  themselves  into  believing  that  it  is 
gone  forever. 

This  family  also  had  the  sake  to  treat 
their  friends  and  callers  at  this  New  Year's 
festival,  but  within  the  three  days  set  apart 
for  its  observance  they  met  to  talk  together 
about  the  dread  that  they  could  not  shake 
off.  "  Whose  turn  is  it  to  die  this  year  ?  " 
was  the  question  opened.  The  upshot  of 
the  long  consultation  was  this  :  the  old  lady, 
with  the  hopeless  resignation  that  Buddhism 
often  gives  its  followers,  volunteered  to  con- 
secrate herself  to  death,  that  the  younger 
ones  of  the  family  might  live  on,  as  was 
fitting. 

When  this  was  agreed  to,  though  no  doubt 
with  earnest  protestations  of  horror  from  all 
the  rest,  she  determined  to  make  a  pilgrim- 


104  COMING   TO   THE  LIGHT. 

age  to  the  centre  of  idolatry,  the  province 
of  Ise,  visiting  celebrated  temples  by  the 
way,  and  scattering  generous  gifts  to  the 
gods  and  buddhas,  that  thereby,  with  a  pure 
heart,  she  might  meet  her  fate.  Attended 
by  a  servant,  she  journeyed  as  far  as  the  city 
of  Osaka,  where  she  stopped  about  three 
months  in  the  house  of  a  brother-in-law. 
This  old  man  and  his  wife  had  recently 
become  Christians,  and  the  very  first  night 
she  heard  from  them  her  first  word  of  the 
new  religion.  The  second  night  she  heard 
with  amazement  a  further  narration  of  their 
new-found  peace  and  joy ;  that  they  had 
torn  down  their  idol-shelves,  and  discarded 
the  old  religions ;  that  they  dared  openly  to 
profess  a  way  that  all  Japanese  had  been 
taught  to  dread  ;  and  that  they  seemed  to  be 
full  of  delight  in  their  new  religion.  These 
things  led  the  old  lady  to  say  on  the  third 
day :  "  The  weather  is  raw  and  the  roads  are 
bad.  If  the  servant  wishes  to  continue  the 
pilgrimage  on  to  Ise,  all  right ;  I  wiU  stay 
tiU  his  return  and  learn  this  way." 

She  heard  for  a  week,  and  gave  a  doUar 
to  the  church  ;  two  weeks,  and  she  must  buy 
portions  of  the  New  Testament  (the  whole 
was  not  yet  translated)  and  other  religious 


A   CHAPEL  BUILT.  105 

books  to  take  back  home  as  presents  ;  an- 
other week,  and  she  gave  another  dollar  to 
the  church,  and  one  to  the  girls'  school. 
Later  still,  she  went  back  to  her  home,  taking 
^vith  her  her  Christian  relatives,  that  they 
might  aid  her  in  meeting  the  objections  the 
family  and  friends  were  sure  to  raise. 

Thus  far  in  her  history  I  have  followed 
pretty  closely  a  letter  written  at  the  time  by 
the  graphic  pen  of  my  colleague  and  friend, 
Rev.  Dr.  De  Forest.  A  year  later  the  old 
lady  went  back  again  to  Osaka  with  so  much 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ  in  her  heart  and  life 
that  she  was  baptized  and  received  into  the 
church,  returning  almost  immediately  to  her 
distant  home  again.  Here  she  has  lived, 
more  than  a  hundred  miles  away  from  her 
church,  and  almost  as  far  from  the  nearest 
Christian,  making  one  or  two  visits  to  Osaka 
during  the  twelve  years  that  have  elapsed, 
and  receiving  visits  from  other  believers  only 
at  great  intervals. 

Four  or  five  years  ago,  when  she  was  still 
the  only  Christian  in  the  place,  she  built 
with  her  own  funds  a  small  chapel  and 
parsonage  combined,  a  two-storied  building, 
eighteen  by  thirty-five  feet  in  size.  The 
family  estate  and  business  had  been  trans- 


106  COMING  TO   THE  LIGHT. 

ferred  to  a  son ;  she,  by  an  unusual  arrange- 
ment, receiving  a  special  allowance.  She  has 
long  been  anxious  for  an  evangelist  to  be 
located  there.  At  the  beginning  of  1891, 
a  man  was  secured,  and  she  herself  gladly 
pays  more  than  one  third  of  his  salary.  But 
she  does  more  than  this.  Althouo-h  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  she  goes  around  from 
house  to  house,  —  as  the  evangelist  has  told 
me,  —  inviting  her  friends  and  neighbors  to 
the  meetings. 

In  April  last,  it  was  my  privilege  to  visit 
this  village,  accompanied  by  the  two  evange- 
lists referred  to  in  the  preface.  As  we  came 
in  sight,  we  saw  a  little  company  walking 
toward  us.  It  proved  to  be  the  old  lady, 
her  granddaughter  who  had  recently  become 
a  Christian,  and  a  few  others,  come  out  to 
welcome  us.  Of  an  unusually  tall  and  com- 
manding figure  for  a  Japanese  lady,  and 
handsomely  dressed  although  in  her  widow's 
weeds,  she  would  have  attracted  attention 
anywhere ;  and  as  she  stood  there  leaning 
on  her  staff,  with  joy  beaming  from  her  coun- 
tenance, she  seemed  patriarchal  indeed,  —  a 
very  "mother  in  Israel."  After  many  mu- 
tual salutations,  she  conducted  us  to  the 
chapel,  made  the  upstairs  or  parsonage  part 


A  FAITHFUL   SON.  107 

of  it  our  lodging-place,  and  during  our  stay 
had  excellent  meals  sent  us  from  an  adjoin- 
ing hotel.  That  afternoon  we  held  a  preach- 
ing-service in  the  chapel,  administered  bap- 
tism to  five  persons,  and  then  united  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  which  proved  a  rich  feast  to 
us  all,  —  but  especially  to  her,  who  like 
Simeon  had  been  waiting  long  to  see  in  that 
village  the  salvation  of  God. 

At  night  we  had  a  crowded  theatre  meet- 
ing, over  one  thousand  hearers  being  present. 
When  we  started  away  next  morning,  she 
and  the  other  Christians  accompanied  us 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  village,  where,  after 
uniting  in  prayer  as  we  stood  in  the  street, 
we  bade  each  other  —  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
write  it  —  a  tearful  farewell. 

There  recently  died  in  Wakayama,  in 
great  peace  of  mind,  another  old  lady  whose 
spiritual  history  was  unusual.  Her  son  went 
to  America  fifteen  years  ago,  and  had  been 
there  but  a  few  years  when  he  became  a 
Christian.  At  once  his  heart  was  moved 
toward  the  conversion  of  his  mother  in 
Japan,  who  was  an  intense  Buddhist.  As 
his  business  would  not  permit  his  immediate 
return,  he  wrote  her  about  his  conversion 
and  sent  her  a  Bible.     This  he  followed  up 


108  COMING   TO   THE  LIGHT. 

with  a  number  of  letters  explaining  the  way 
of  salvation,  and  several  tracts.  One  day, 
about  three  years  after  his  own  conversion, 
his  heart  was  gladdened  by  the  receipt  of  a 
letter  from  his  mother  announcing  that  she 
had  forsaken  her  idols  and  had  accepted 
Christ  as  her  Saviour,  and  desired  to  be 
baptized.  But  what  was  the  son  to  do,  for 
there  was  not  a  Christian  in  all  her  city  of 
fifty  thousand  people  ?  After  prayer  for 
guidance  he  sent  a  letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Hail, 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  Mission, 
saying  that  he  thought  his  mother  had  be- 
come a  Christian,  and  askins:  him  to  2:0  to 
her  home  in  Wakayama  and  examine  her, 
and,  if  she  was  found  ready,  to  baptize  her. 
The  letter  came  while  Dr.  Hail  was  on  a 
missionary  tour,  and  was  sent  to  him  by  his 
wife,  reaching  him  in  the  very  town  where 
the  subject  of  its  contents  resided.  Losing 
no  time,  he  went  to  her  house,  and  to  his 
surprise  found  her  so  well  prepared  for  bap- 
tism that  then  and  there,  at  a  late  hour  of  the 
night,  in  the  heart  of  a  heathen  city,  he  bap- 
tized her  and  received  her  into  the  church. 
After  this  she  desired  the  communion,  and 
using  a  piece  of  cracker,  the  only  remains 
of  his  lunch,  and  some  native  wine  that  she 


A   CURIOUS  LETTER.  109 

had  in  the  house,  they  celebrated  the  suffer- 
ings and  death  of  her  new-found  Saviour. 
The  reception  of  this  lady  into  the  church 
was  the  beginnino^  of  a  srreat  work  in  Waka- 
yama,  a  place  where  the  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian Mission  had  long  tried  to  secure  a 
footing,  but  in  vain.  She  was  the  first  mem- 
ber of  a  church  which  now  numbers  more 
than  one  hundred,  and  she  was  one  of  the 
most  active  and  useful  of  them  all.  Her 
son  on  returning  to  Japan  became  a  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel,  and  is  still  doing  excellent 
work. 

Here  is  a  letter,  with  both  its  amusing  and 
touching  characteristics,  which  shows  how 
one  young  girl  came  under  Christian  influ- 
ences. It  was  written  by  a  man  who  had 
felt  so  much  pity  for  his  friend's  daughter, 
who  was  constantly  abused  by  her  stepmo- 
ther, that  he  had  taken  her  to  his  own  home. 
The  letter,  which  is  given  as  nearly  verbatim 
et  literatim  as  intelligibility  will  allow,  was 
brought  by  the  young  girl  to  the  lady  mis- 
sionary whose  Sunday-school  class  she  en- 
tered.    It  is  full  of  tJapanese  idioms:  — 

Instead  of  my  mouth  (or  conversation). 
My  dear  Sir,  —  I  wish  to  tell  you  next  speech. 
I  am  simple  people  (in  Japanese) .     I  know  very 


110  COMING    TO   THE  LIGHT. 

little  English.  I  don't  know  English  grammar. 
I  don't  know  European  habit.  I  don't  know 
light  [right]  conversation.  I  cannot  spell  light 
letter.  But  now  I  take  not  care  of  my  shame- 
full,  and  dare  give  strange  curious  letter.  Here 
I  nmst  tell  you  about  some  matter. 

This  matter  is  my  poor,  poor  girl.  She  is  my 
dear  friend's  girl.  She  have  a  very  Unhappy 
for  Her  mother  are  not  true  mother,  (Because 
her  mother  do  not  born  she)  so  that  she  receive 
always  very  battery,  and  very  bad  managed  from 
mother.  So  that  she  became  a  foolish  fellow 
and  have  sorrowful  feel,  so  that  she  often  content 
to  Own  Death.  Then  I  could  not  bare  so  that 
I  take  unto  my  home  by  his  father's  beg,  and  I 
educate  with  all  my  heart.  But  one  day  I  find 
her  heart  became  very  bad  by  her  ignorant  foolish 
mother's  bad  education.     O,  O,  I  am  very  sorry. 

When  one  day  I  think  Christianity  is  all  good 
heart  and  good  conduct.  If  my  poor  girl  become 
a  Christianity  she  will  change  [to]  a  good,  holy 
heart.  If  she  heard  holy  speech  and  look  holy 
missionary.  If  she  place  own  body  in  holy 
church.  So  that  I  beg  you  that  if  you  please 
educate  to  Christianity.  Ah,  my  good  teacher 
give  she  true  life  for  her  poor  spirit.  Let  she 
make  a  true  sheep  of  God. 

Your  Savant  K.  Yamanaka. 

It  is  a  surprising  fact  that  in  opening  a 
work  the   first   converts   are   almost   never 


A  SAD  FALL.  Ill 

natives  of  the  place.  They  are  sure  to  be 
school-teachers,  officials,  and  others  who  have 
come  from  another  city  and  are  only  so- 
journers there.  The  explanation  of  this  is 
that  in  becoming  Christians,  natives  have  to 
go  against  their  family,  friends,  and  their 
old  associates,  and  the  difficulty  of  embra- 
cing the  new  faith  is  not  only  greater,  but 
the  danger  of  falling  away  again  is  immense. 
A  sad  example  of  inability  to  withstand 
these  unfavorable  influences  may  be  given : 
A  man  who  had  been  a  libertine  was,  after 
some  reluctance,  received  into  the  church  by 
a  Japanese  pastor.  The  next  day  after  bap- 
tism he  visited  a  city  where  he  had  previ- 
ously lived  in  dissipation.  One  of  his  former 
female  associates  invited  him  to  her  house, 
but  he  refused,  saying  that  he  had  just 
become  a  Christian.  She  followed  him  as 
he  went  away ;  old  associations  were  too 
strong  for  him  and  he  fell.  Filled  with  re- 
morse he  hastened  to  commit  suicide ;  and 
she,  touched  apparently  by  the  same  feeling, 
voluntarily  died  with  him. 

A  scholarly  Japanese  was  employed  to 
write  the  I^unten  (marks  which  indicate  the 
order  in  which  the  characters  must  be  read) 
into  a  Chinese  Bible,  for  the  purpose  of  mak- 


112  COMING   TO   THE  LIGHT. 

ing  it  intelligible  to  a  wider  circle  of  Japa- 
nese readers.  His  own  eyes  were  thereby 
opened  to  see  beyond  the  letter,  and  he  was 
so  impressed  by  the  beanty  of  Christ's  char- 
acter that  he  became  a  Christian,  and  has  for 
many  years  been  a  preacher  of  the  gospel. 

A  traveler  returning  from  a  journey  pre- 
sents to  a  friend  a  copy  of  the  Scriptures 
which  had  been  given  him,  and  which  he 
evidently  regards  as  of  little  value.  The 
friend  reads  it,  but  there  is  mu3h  that  he 
cannot  understand.  Finally,  for  the  sake  of 
finding  an  interpreter,  he  removes  with  his 
family  to  Tokyo.  That  was  fifteen  years 
ago ;  and  for  many  years  he  also  has  been 
a  o-ood  minister  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"A  man  in  great  distress,  ruined  in  business 
and  anxious  over  the  illness  of  three  children, 
accidentally  picked  up  a  secular  newspaper 
with  this  quotation  in  one  of  its  editorials : 
'  Take,  therefore,  no  thought  for  the  morrow ; 
for  the  morrow  shall  take  thought  for  the 
things  of  itself.'  Deeply  impressed  by  the 
thought  of  the  quotation,  he  inquired  for  the 
book  that  contained  it,  learned  that  it  was 
found  in  the  Bible,  and  to  him  also  a  New 
Testament,  bought  in  a  second-hand  book- 
store, proved  a  field  with  a  hidden  treasure." 


GOOD   SEED.  113 

"  Another,  with  a  heart  full  of  resentment, 
is  on  his  way  to  injure  one  whom  he  re- 
gards as  having  done  him  a  great  wrong. 
He  stops  at  the  house  of  a  Christian  friend. 
As  they  part,  the  friend,  knowing  nothing  of 
the  object  of  his  journey,  gives  him  a  Bible. 
Not  long  after  the  man  opens  the  book,  and 
his  eye  falls  on  the  words,  '  Judge  not,  that 
ye  be  not  judged.'  His  conscience  is  trou- 
bled ;  he  gives  up  his  purpose  of  revenge ; 
he  continues  to  read,  and  in  due  time  ac- 
cepts Christ  as  his  Master." 

An  old  man  of  seventy,  who  lived  in  the 
province  of  Goshu,  hearing  of  the  preaching 
of  Christianity  in  Kyoto,  visited  that  city 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  about  it.  Fail- 
ing to  find  any  one  in  Kyoto  who  could 
teach  him,  he  went  on  to  Kobe,  where  he 
met  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  and  received 
from  him  some  books.  Disappointed  in 
these,  he  at  a  later  date  received  a  Bible 
and  some  Protestant  tracts,  took  them  home, 
and  spent  several  years  in  the  unaided  study 
of  them.  In  1882  he  came  to  Kyoto  to 
see  Mr.  Neesima,  and,  hearing  that  there 
were  to  be  baptisms  on  the  following  day, 
he  earnestly  asked  the  rite  for  himself.  I 
had  the  privilege  of  sitting  with  the  church 


114  COMING   TO   THE  LIGHT. 

committee  appointed  for  his  examination, 
and  we  began  it  with  the  thought  that  he 
would  better  defer  entering  the  church  a 
while  longer.  But  after  a  conference  of  an 
hour,  it  w^as  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the 
committee  that  he  should  be  baptized  at 
once.  We  found  that  he  had  written  three 
small  volumes  of  Chinese  poetry  (which 
Japanese  scholars  are  very  fond  of)  upon 
Christianity.  Some  of  these  poems  were 
said  to  show  very  deep  spiritual  insight. 
He  had  had  prayer  and  Scripture  reading 
in  his  family,  and  had  made  it  known  in  the 
community  that  he  was  a  Christian.  In  his 
examination  he  said,  among  other  things : 
"  Many  object  to  Christianity  because  of 
the  cross  ;  but  to  my  mind  the  cross  is  the 
distinctive  glory  of  the  religion  of  Christ." 
With  one  other  instance  of  remarkable  guid- 
ing toward  the  light,  I  will  close  this  chap- 
ter. 

In  1854,  before  treaties  with  foreign  na- 
tions had  been  made,  an  English  fleet  sud- 
denly appeared  in  Nagasaki  harbor.  This 
filled  tlie  government  with  consternation,  and 
an  army  was  collected  to  watch  the  fleet,  and 
prevent  intercourse  with  the  people.  The 
commander  of  this  army,  Wakasa-no-kami, 


BREAD    UPON  THE    WATERS.  115 

in  one  of  his  trips  about  the  harbor,  found  in 
the  water  a  small  New  Testament,  though  he 
of  course  did  not  know  what  it  was.  Curios- 
ity impelled  him  to  diligent  inquiry,  and  he 
finally  learned  from  a  Dutch  interpreter 
that  it  was  a  good  book,  and  told  of  God 
and  Christ.  He  learned  further  that  he 
could  get  a  Chinese  translation  of  it  by 
sending  to  Shanghai,  and  this  he  did  at 
once.  He  was,  however,  soon  ordered  back 
to  his  native  province  of  Saga,  but  he  kept 
up  his  study  of  the  Bible,  and  induced  four 
others  to  join  him.  Eight  years  afterward 
one  of  these  became,  for  a  short  time,  a  pu- 
pil of  Dr.  Verbeck  at  Nagasaki,  and  Wa- 
kasa  also  put  himself  under  his  instruction. 
But  as  he  was  prevented  by  feudal  restric- 
tions from  going  there  himself,  he  would 
send  one  of  his  retainers  on  the  two  days' 
journey  to  Nagasaki,  to  get  explanations  of 
such  passages  as  he  had  not  been  able  to 
understand.  This  unique  Bible-class  was 
kept  up  in  this  way  for  nearly  three  years. 
In  1866  Wakasa  and  his  brother  secured 
permission  to  visit  Nagasaki,  and  were  bap- 
tized on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  At  that 
time  he  told  of  the  Testament  found  in  the 
water  twelve  years  before. 


116  COMING   TO   THE  LIGHT. 

In  1880,  fourteen  years  later  still,  the 
daughter  and  a  female  servant  of  the  family- 
went  to  Nagasaki  and  were  baptized,  and  they 
at  that  time  reported  the  triumphant  death 
of  Wakasa  in  1872.  This  daughter  and  her 
husband  are  now  active  members  of  a  Pres- 
byterian church  in  Tokyo.  The  servant's 
zealous  service  for  her  spiritual  Master  has 
resulted  in  the  organization  of  a  church  in 
Saga.  A  granddaughter  of  Wakasa  has 
become  a  Christian,  and,  in  1890,  a  grand- 
son entered  the  Doshisha  College,  bringing 
with  him,  and  presenting  to  the  school,  a 
large  English  Bible  which  had  been  given 
to  his  grandfather  thirty  years  before,  but 
which  they  had  been  obliged  to  conceal  for 
years,  to  avoid  persecution.  We  thus  see 
in  this  family  a  living  comment  upon  the 
Psalmist's  declaration  that  "  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Lord  is  unto  children's  chil- 
dren.'' 


CHAPTER  X. 

BY   THEIR   FRUITS. 

This  is  the  divine  test  for  all  things,  — 
a  test  ordained  not  only  by  the  words  of 
our  Lord,  but  also  by  the  reason  divinely 
implanted  in  every  soul  of  man.  That 
grapes  do  not  grow  upon  thorn-bushes,  that 
fruits  declare  the  nature  of  the  trees  that 
bore  them,  is  recognized  by  every  sane 
mind.  Nor  does  the  presence  of  tares 
among  the  wheat  disprove  the  existence  of 
true  wheat,  or  deny  that  it  grows  only  from 
good  seed-wheat.  What  has  been  true  of 
Christianity  everywhere,  and  in  all  ages,  is 
markedly  true  of  its  history  in  Japan ;  the 
divine  characteristics  of  the  fruit  prove  the 
divine  nature  of  the  tree. 

Christianity  has  already  given  the  people 
at  large  the  impression  that  its  fruits  are 
unusual.  There  was  a  curious  illustration 
of  this  in  Tsuyama,  in  the  province  of  Mi- 
masaka,  two  or  three  years  ago.  A  theft  had 
been  committed  in  a  neighboring  city,  and 


118  BY  THEIR  FEU  ITS. 

late  at  night  word  was  sent  to  the  police  of 
Tsuyama  that  the  thief  had  in  all  proba- 
bility gone  there,  and  directing  them  to  make 
an  immediate  examination  of  the  guests  in  all 
the  hotels.  At  one  hotel  an  officer,  with  the 
landlord  for  a  guide,  was  going  the  rounds 
of  the  sleeping-rooms.  "  Who  are  in  here  ?  " 
he  asked,  stopping  before  one  large  bed- 
room. "This  room  is  occupied  by  a  num- 
ber of  Christian  young  men  from  surround- 
ing towns,  who  have  come  here  as  delegates 
to  the  dedication  of  a  church  and  the  ordina- 
tion of  a  pastor,"  said  the  landlord.  "  Oh, 
well,  let 's  pass  on  to  the  other  rooms  ; 
there 's  no  hope  of  finding  a  thief  here," 
was  the  policeman's  rejoinder,  and  so  our 
Christian  friends  continued  to  sleep  the 
sleep  of  the  just.  In  another  room  they 
found  a  young  man  who  had  come  in  late, 
and  was  occupying  a  room  alone.  This 
promised  more,  and  so  they  woke  him  up, 
and  began  searching  his  luggage  for  stolen 
goods.  Pretty  soon  a  Japanese  New  Testa- 
ment rolled  out  on  the  floor,  and  the  police- 
man, with  an  air  of  disappointment  and 
disgust,  went  on  to  pastures  new  in  his 
thief-searching. 

As  is  well  known,  other  foreign  residents 


CAUSES   OF  CRITICISM.  119 

on  missionary  ground  are  often  unfriendly 
critics  of  missionaries  and  their  work. 
There  are  various  reasons  for  this.  One  is 
a  contempt  for  the  natives,  and  a  disbelief 
in  the  possibility  of  their  becoming  honest 
and  trustworthy.  Another  is  a  too  common 
disbelief  in  the  good  results  of  Christianity 
anywhere.  A  third  is  their  lack  of  know- 
ledge of  the  missionary's  work  and  its  re- 
sults. Because  they  do  not  see,  or  care  to 
see,  the  missionary's  work,  they  conclude 
that  he  has  none.  Underlying  most  of 
these  reasons,  in  the  early  days  especially, 
was  the  fact  that  not  a  few  had  "  taken 
wives  of  the  children  of  the  land,"  and,  by 
open  violation  of  the  seventh  and  other 
commandments,  must  either  stand  con- 
demned themselv^es,  or  unite  in  condemning 
Christianity  and  its  teachers. 

In  Japan,  however,  there  are  many  who 
recognize  the  value  of  the  work  missionaries 
are  doing,  and  who  are  ready  to  testify  to 
the  zeal  and  success  of  missionary  labors. 
A  few  years  ago,  an  outward-bound  steamer 
carried  among  its  passengers  one  who  was 
constantly  railing  at  missionaries,  their  lack 
of  zeal,  etc. ;  whereupon  a  well  -  known 
American  merchant  in  Japan  was  overheard 


120  BY  THEIR  FRUIT8. 

to  say  (I  do  not  pretend  to  quote  literally)  : 
"  It  is  not  so  with  lis.  Very  near  my 
home  in  Kobe  live  three  cultured  American 
ladies.  We  should  be  glad  to  have  them 
at  our  house  frequently,  but  they  are  so  busy 
every  day,  from  early  morning  till  late  at 
night,  that  it  is  very  rarely  indeed  that  we 
can  secure  them  as  guests." 

Twelve  or  fifteen  years  ago,  an  English 
merchant  began  to  say  to  us  :  "  You  missiona- 
ries are  doing  a  good  work  ;  I  know  it,  be- 
cause I  have  the  evidence  of  it  in  my  own 
house,"  and  he  has  ever  since  been  our 
friend,  the  friend  of  our  Japanese  Chris- 
tians, and  a  liberal  contributor  to  our  work. 
The  evidence  to  which  he  referred  was  the 
honest  and  upright  life  of  a  native  Christian 
employee  who  acted  as  his  hanto^  or  fore- 
man. Not  lonof  after  we  be^^an  to  hear  of 
this,  the  death  of  the  father  of  this  Chris- 
tian called  him  back  to  his  old  home  in 
Fukui,  the  capital  of  the  great  province  of 
Echizen,  to  take  charge  of  the  family  af- 
fairs. On  the  front  of  the  public  bath-house 
which  he  inherited  from  his  father  he  im- 
mediately hung  up  the  notice,  "  No  business 
done  here  on  Sunday."  This  sign  excited 
wide  inquiry,  which  was  always  met   with 


A   "JESUS  BATH  HOUSE:'  121 

pleasant  replies,  and  invitations  to  come  on 
Sunday  to  learn  more  of  the  "Jesus  way." 
The  house  was  nicknamed  "  the  Jesus  Bath- 
house," and  was  reported  to  offer  cleansing 
for  men's  souls  as  well  as  their  bodies. 
Even  his  dog  was  called  "  the  Jesus  dog." 

He  was  soon  boycotted,  and  after  great 
pecuniary  loss  the  bath-house  was  closed 
entirely,  and  turned  into  a  regular  preaching- 
place,  and  he  for  a  time  became  a  colporteur 
evano^elist.  About  the  time  of  his  return  to 
Fukui,  students  from  the  Doshisha  school 
began  to  go  there  to  work  during  the  sum- 
mer vacations,  and  a  little  company  of 
Christians,  many  of  them  Matsuura's  per- 
sonal friends,  was  gathered.  Four  years 
ago,  his  family  affairs  became  so  arranged 
that  he  could  accej^t  the  invitation,  that  had 
been  open  to  him  all  the  while,  to  go  back 
to  his  old  employer  in  Kobe.  As  a  parting 
gift  to  the  little  church,  whose  members 
were  nearly  all  very  poor,  he  gave  his 
house.  Another  man,  not  a  baptized  Chris- 
tian, gave  another  house  and  lot,  and  with 
these,  and  the  contributions  of  the  other 
Christians,  a  neat  little  chapel  was  built. 

Over  thirty  years  ago,  two  samurai  met 
near  a  well-known  gate  in  Tokyo,  and  be- 


122  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

cause  of  some  discourtesy,  fancied  or  real, 
their  swords  leaped  from  their  scabbards, 
and  they  were  soon  in  deadly  conflict.  One 
cut  the  other  across  the  forehead,  and  again 
on  the  chin.  The  blood  ran  down  into  the 
eyes  of  the  wounded  man  so  that  he  could 
not  see  his  opponent,  and  so  he  was  soon 
dispatched.  But  the  victor  found  no  rest. 
The  fear  of  the  avenger  —  kataki-uchi  — 
was  ever  with  him.  He  studied  fencing, 
and  became  an  expert  with  the  sword.  He 
put  a  sword  in  every  room  of  his  house,  and 
slept  with  one  under  his  bed.  By  means  of 
a  go-between  he  ''  received  a  wife,"  but  was 
horrified  to  find  that  she  was  a  relative  of 
the  man  he  had  murdered.  He  divorced 
her,  and  married  another.  Dwelling  upon 
his  deed,  he  came  to  feel  that  his  own  chin 
and  forehead  gave  him  constant  pain,  and  so, 
from  fear  and  suspicion  and  anxiety,  his 
health  broke  down.  A  few  months  ago  he 
became  a  Christian,  openly  confessed  the 
facts  given  above,  and  since  then  has  been 
leading  an  active  and  happy  Christian  life. 

A  prominent  American,  who  visited  Ja- 
pan several  years  ago,  afterward  publicly 
reported  a  conversation  which  he  had  with  a 
Japanese  lady  of  rank,  who,  although  edu- 


A  LAMENTABLE   CUSTOM.  123 

cated  in  part  at  least  in  mission  schools, 
had  not  become  a  Christian,  and  gave  as 
her  reason  therefor  that  the  missionaries 
had  advised  her  to  go  against  the  wishes 
of  her  parents.  The  narrator  expressed 
approval  of  her  decision  to  stand  by  her 
father,  and  his  words  were  received  by  his 
hearers  with  applause.  And  yet  it  can 
hardly  be  supposed  that  these  Christian 
ladies  and  gentlemen  meant  by  this  applause 
to  express  approval  of  that  Confucian  prin- 
ciple of  ethics  which  makes  obedience  to 
parents  the  highest  of  all  laws,  a  principle 
which  has  sent  thousands  of  young  girls  to 
lives  of  infamy,  and  created  a  public  senti- 
ment which  for  centuries  has  highly  ap- 
proved such  a  course.  Again  and  again 
have  missionaries,  or  Japanese  Christians, 
bought  girls  out  of  brothels,  or  kept  them 
from  going  in,  and  saved  them  to  useful 
and  honorable  lives.  I  know  at  least  one 
who  was  thus  rescued,  who  is  now  the  wife 
of  a  Christian  minister,  and  there  are  doubt- 
less many  other  similar  cases.  Several 
years  ago,  in  the  province  of  Kishu,  a  Chris- 
tian who  was  traveling  on  foot  overtook  a 
mother  and  daughter  who  seemed  greatly 
downcast.     As   they  walked  on,  he  learned 


124  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

that  the  mother  was  going  to  the  city  to  sell 
her  daughter  into  a  house  of  ill-repute,  their 
extreme  poverty  making  this  a  seeming  ne- 
cessity. To  relieve  the  family,  and  so  save 
the  daughter,  he  gave  the  mother  all  the 
money  he  had.  The  daughter  afterward 
became  a  Christian,  and  I  believe  married  a 
Christian. 

Several  years  ago,  the  chief  warden  of  the 
prison  in  Matsuyama  fell  ill.  One  of  our 
lady  missionaries  was  at  that  time  working 
in  the  vicinity,  and,  calling  at  his  house, 
talked  with  him  of  Christian  truth  and  life. 
He  received  the  truth,  repented  of  his  sins, 
and  became  a  Christian.  His  change  from 
severity  to  kindness  and  forbearance  was  so 
marked  as  to  astonish  the  prisoners  and  the 
other  officials,  and  a  number  of  the  latter 
also  became  Christians.  In  1888  a  man 
was  arrested,  tried,  and  condemned  to  death 
for  the  murder  of  three  persons,  jealousy 
and  anger  being  the  cause.  While  awaiting 
execution,  the  evangelist  found  him,  and 
daily  instructed  him  in  regard  to  Christ  and 
his  salvation.  On  the  day  of  his  execution 
he  refused  the  customary  feast  which  was 
offered  him,  asking  that  the  money  might 
be  taken  to  buy  food  for  the  sick  prisoners. 


THE    GOSPEL   IN  A  PRISON.  125 

Upon  the  scaffold,  permission  having  been 
asked  and  granted,  he  offered  the  following 
prayer :  "  Heavenly  Father,  I  have  been  a 
great  sinner,  and  must  now  die  for  my  sins ; 
but  while  in  prison  thou  hast  deeply  blessed 
me  by  opening  my  heart,  baptizing  me  with 
the  gospel  of  Jesus,  filling  my  heart  with 
joy  and  peace  through  the  sacrifice  made  on 
the  cross.  Even  in  the  hour  of  death  thou 
givest  me  hope  and  peace  everlasting.  O 
Father,  I  go  to  thee  !  Receive  my  soul,  I 
beseech  thee.  O  Father,  have  mercy  on  my 
mother  and  sister.  I  beseech  thee  to  lead 
them  to  believe  in  thee.  And  as  thou  hast 
saved  me,  save  also  all  these  my  brother 
and  sister  prisoners." 

Rising  from  his  knees  he  said  :  "  I  leave 
an  aged  mother  and  a  sister  ;  please  see  that 
they  soon  learn  to  know  of  Jesus." 

The  vice-governor  and  other  officials 
present  were  deejDly  impressed  by  his  calm 
death. 

"  In  a  retired  valley  of  Joshu  there  is  a 
little  hamlet  of  charcoal-burners.  A  few 
years  ago  their  manner  of  life  was  the 
rudest  possible.  There  seemed  no  glimmer 
of  hope  for  better  things.  A  colporteur,  in 
passing  through   the   valley,  spoke   to   the 


126  BY  THE  IE  FRUITS. 

people.  Two  men  became  interested  and 
purchased  copies  of  the  New  Testament. 
Their  employers  soon  noticed  a  change  in 
the  grade  of  charcoal  from  these  two  men : 
it  was  more  carefully  burned,  was  better 
packed,  and  free  from  stones  and  grass. 
This  charcoal  was  looked  upon  as  a  special 
brand,  and  brought  a  special  price.  On 
Sundays  work  was  suspended,  and  these  men 
with  their  families  oathered  for  religious 
worship  and  the  study  of  the  Bible.  Shortly 
after,  they  began  to  reclaim  the  mountain 
land  around  them,  to  plant  wheat  and  gar- 
den stuff,  and  recently  one  of  them  has  be- 
come forehanded  enough  to  build  a  neat 
frame  house  in  place  of  his  old  hut.  His 
employers  say  he  is  the  most  efficient  and 
trustworthy  man  in  the  mountain.  He  him- 
self says  he  owes  his  new  vigor  to  his  weekly 
day  of  rest,  and  that  without  it  he  could  not 
do  his  work.  Both  men  recognize  the  value 
of  the  aid  their  church  gives  them ;  and 
though  it  is  ten  miles  away,  they  contribute 
liberally  and  gladly  to  the  support  of  their 
pastor." 

In  1887  the  Rev.  George  Muller,  the 
founder  of  the  Orphan  Asylums  at  Bristol, 
England,  visited  Japan  and  addressed  the 


A    UNIQUE  PHOTOGRAPH.  127 

Christians  in  several  of  its  cities.  While 
in  Yokohama  he  was  asked  to  sit  for  his 
photograph,  but  declined,  saying,  "  Let  one 
of  you  Japanese  Christians  found  an  or- 
phanage ;  that  will  be  my  photograph." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  effect  of 
this  remark,  it  is  certain  that  the  knowledge 
of  Mr.  Muller's  life  of  trust  was  a  seed 
which  found  a  soil  prepared  for  it  in  the 
heart  of  one  young  Japanese.  This  was 
Mr.  J.  Ishii,  a  student  in  the  Okayama 
Medical  School,  who  a  little  more  than  two 
years  before  had,  after  a  short  experience 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  communion,  joined 
the  Protestant  church  in  that  city.  A  ser- 
mon by  Dr.  Neesima  on  "  Laboring  for 
Others,"  in  which  he  told  of  an  old  man  and 
an  old  woman  in  America  who  out  of  their 
poverty  had  given  two  dollars  each  to  estab- 
lish a  Christian  college  in  Japan,  had  moved 
him  to  consecrate  himself  to  a  life  of  devo- 
tion to  the  welfare  of  others,  and  he  at  once 
opened  a  night  school  for  poor  children,  in 
an  old  Shinto  shrine.  A  poem  by  Mr.  Ike- 
bukuro,  a  Japanese  Christian,  strengthened 
the  impression  made  by  the  sermon.  Like 
nearly  all  Japanese  poetry,  it  is  a  tiny  ode 
of  thirty-one  syllables,  and  may  be  roughly 
translated  as  follows  :  — 


128  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

How  grieved  His  "heart  for  a  siuful  -world 
\Mio  had  not  where  to  lay  His  weary  head  I 

He  had  been  impressed  also  by  a  transla- 
tion of  Dr.  Guthrie's  testimony  to  the  in- 
fluence upon  his  own  life  of  the  example  of 
John  Pounds,  who,  while  earning  his  daily 
bread  by  working  as  a  cobbler,  had  rescued 
from  misery  and  saved  to  society  not  less  than 
five  hundred  poor  children.  Mr.  Ishii  then 
wrote  in  his  diary :  "I  believe  myself  born 
for  that  purpose  *'  (^caring  for  poor  children), 
"and  I  will  follow  Guthrie's  example  in  imi- 
tating Pounds.*" 

Up  to  the  time  of  learning  of  ^Muller's 
work  he  had  intended  to  take  up  this  life- 
work  after  graduation  ;  now  he  decided  to 
begin  at  ouce  his  labors  for  children. 

The  house  adjoining  was  a  miserable 
hovel  frequented  by  the  very  poor.  One 
day,  seeing  a  beggar  woman  with  two  chil- 
dren there,  he  stepped  in  and  gave  the  eight- 
year-old  boy  a  bowl  of  his  own  rice.  The 
lad  immediately  passed  it  over  to  his  younger 
sister,  who  was  a  cripple.  Learning  from  the 
mother  the  pitifid  story  of  her  widowhood 
and  povert}*,  and  that  she  could  support 
herself  and  the  girl,  but  not  both  giii  and 
boy,  Mr.  Ishii  finally  induced  the   mother 


A    WORK   OF  FAITH.  129 

to  allow  him  to  adopt  the  latter.  This  boy, 
now  a  healthy  and  happy  youth,  is  often 
shown  as  the  '"original  orphan  "  of  the  asy- 
lum which  ^Ir.  Ishii  founded.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  the  same  year  he  learned  of  an  ex- 
tremely poor  fisherman  and  his  wife  who 
adopted  two  children  of  three  and  five  years 
whom  the  cholera  had  bereft  of  all  their 
relatives.  The  heartless  neighbors  were 
about  to  bury  the  younger  child  alive  in  a 
coffin  with  its  mother,  as  it  was  abeady 
nearly  dead  from  starvation.  This  so  im- 
pressed him  with  the  pitiable  condition  of 
orphans  and  the  corresponding  duties  of 
Christians  that  he  stopped  in  his  medical 
course,  ^N'ithin  four  months  of  graduation, 
sold  his  medical  books,  and  a  part  of  his 
own  and  his  wife's  clothing,  rented  a  part  of 
an  old  Buddhist  temple,  and  with  the  boy 
above  mentioned,  and  two  others  whom  they 
had  picked  up,  began  to  gather  in  the  home- 
less and  friendless  little  ones.  He  had  the 
conviction  that  the  living  God  who  had 
called  him  to  this  work  woidd  supply  the 
means,  and  in  this  conviction  he  receives 
every  needy  applicant,  guarding  carefully 
against  imposture,  of  course,  and  goes  to  God 
with  their  daily  needs.     Beyond  making  an 


130  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

announcement  through  our  Christian  news- 
papers from  month  to  month  of  the  number 
of  children  and  the  amount  of  money  re- 
ceived and  expended,  he  asks  no  man  for 
pecuniary  aid.  This  plan  has  more  than 
once  brought  them  into  great  straits,  but 
deliverance  has  always  come.  One  of  these 
experiences,  which  I  well  remember,  is  wor- 
thy of  record. 

During  the  summer  of  1889  there  were  so 
many  floods  and  earthquakes  in  Japan,  and 
consequently  such  a  severe  drain  on  the 
benevolence  of  the  Christians,  that  the  or- 
phanage was  almost  forgotten.  The  supply 
of  food  grew  less  and  less,  until  on  Septem- 
ter  24th  only  a  very  little  rice  remained. 
At  the  five-o'clock  supper  Mr.  Ishii  made  a 
speech  to  the  children,  telling  them  the  food 
was  nearly  all  gone,  and  there  was  no  money 
to  buy  any  more.  For  supper  they  must 
be  coutent  with  a  little  rice  gruel,  and  even 
that  would  not  last  long.  Then  he  related 
the  story  of  a  poor  but  godly  family  who 
were  in  a  starving  condition,  when  the  father 
called  his  five  children  together  and  told 
them  God  loved  them,  and  would  answer 
prayer  and  help  them  if  it  seemed  wise  to 
Him  to  do  so,  and  asked  them  to  pray  with 


PRAYER  ANSWERED.  131 

him.  A  few  minutes  later  a  raven  flew  in 
and  laid  a  gold  ring  on  the  table.  The  poor 
man  would  not  sell  the  ring,  but  carried  it  to 
his  pastor,  who  carried  it  to  the  king,  whose 
property  it  proved  to  be.  The  sequel  may- 
be imagined. 

''Now,  children,"  said  Mr.  Ishii,  "that 
happened  many  years  ago  in  Holland,  but 
the  same  kind  heavenly  Father  still  watches 
over  his  children,  and  I  believe  He  will  help 
us.  As  many  of  you  as  think  the  same 
will  please  go  with  me,  when  you  have 
finished  your  supper,  to  the  little  graveyard 
back  of  the  house,  and  there  we  will  pray  in 
faith  for  help." 

Nearly  thirty  of  the  children  volunteered 
to  go,  some  of  them  without  tasting  even 
a  mouthful  of  the  scanty  meal.  Mr.  Ishii 
opened  the  little  service  of  prayer,  and, 
after  offering  a  very  urgent  petition  himself, 
started,  supperless  and  probably  dinnerless, 
to  attend  the  church  prayer-meeting,  leaving 
the  children  praying  in  the  temple  grave- 
yard. 

While  they  were  in  the  act  of  prayer 
there  came  a  call  at  the  door  of  the  orphan- 
age, and  a  missionary  lady,  who  had  that 
day  come  to  Okayama  from    another   city, 


132  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

entered  bringing  thirty-one  dollars  (831.00), 
sent  through  her  to  the  asylum  from  a  mission 
band  in  the  State  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Ishii, 
to  whom  she  handed  the  money,  seemed 
dazed,  so  overwhelmed  was  she  with  joy  at 
their  unexpected  relief  from  distress,  and  at 
the  striking  coincidence.  She  sent  word 
immediately  to  Mr.  Ishii,  at  the  church,  and 
a  few  minutes  later  the  whole  story  was  told 
in  the  church  prayer-meeting.  The  Rev.  J. 
H.  Pettee,  of  Okayama,  the  earnest  friend 
and  coadjutor  of  Mr.  Ishii,  to  whom  I  am 
chiefly  indebted  for  these  facts  about  the 
orphanage,  says :  "  So  quiet  had  he  kept  the 
matter  of  their  urgent  need  that,  though  the 
asylum  is  less  than  half  a  mile  from  my 
house,  I  had  simply  heard  a  rumor  that  they 
were  having  rather  a  hard  time.  That  was 
all  the  lady  who  brought  the  relief  knew, 
and  probably  not  a  single  person  outside  the 
orphanage  was  aware  of  the  desperate  need." 
The  history  of  this  asylum  has  made  a 
great  impression  upon  our  Japanese  Chris- 
tians. They  had  frequently  told  their  un- 
christian countrymen  of  such  institutions 
in  other  lands  ;  they  now  point  to  this  fruit 
of  Christianity  in  their  own  country,  and 
ask,   "Why,  with   more   than   a   thousand 


WHY  NO   ORPHANAGES?  133 

years  of  the  ethics  of  Confucius  and  the  re- 
ligion of  the  gentle  Shaka  (Buddha),  has 
our  country  never  known  an  orphan- 
asylum  worthy  of  the  name  ?  And  by 
what  power  is  this  young  man,  without 
wealth  and  reputation,  enabled  to  house, 
feed,  clothe,  educate,  and  train  in  various 
industries,  these  more  than  two  hundred 
orj)hans  now  under  his  charge?"  And  to 
these  questions  their  unchristian  friends  have 
no  reply. 

When  the  terrible  earthquakes  occurred 
in  October,  1891,  Mr.  Ishii  had  an  agent 
promptly  on  the  ground,  and  forty-one  or- 
phans were  taken  to  the  asylum.  But  he 
did  not  stop  with  this.  He  inaugurated  a 
campaign  for  funds  in  aid  of  the  sufferers. 
The  orphans  went  everywhere  in  the  city 
and  vicinity,  and  pupils  of  the  two  Chris- 
tian schools  were  also  enlisted.  The  contri- 
butions began  with  sixteen  cents  from  an 
orphan,  "all  that  she  had."  One  orphan 
entered  the  largest  house  of  ill-repute  in  the 
city,  and  was  quickly  given  one  dollar  by 
one  of  the  inmates.  So  much  zeal  was 
shown  that  eleven  hundred  dollars  and  seven- 
teen hundred  articles  of  clothing  were  in 
this  way  secured. 


134  BY  THEIR  FRUITS. 

Provision  for  the  orphans  of  the  district 
being  still  incompleta,  Mr.  Ishii  has  opened 
a  branch  of  the  asylum  at  Nagoya,  in  the 
earthquake  district.  More  than  thirty-six 
are  now  cared  for  there.  A  recent  liberal 
gift  from  a  member  of  the  famous  Buxton 
family  of  England  has  given  this  branch  a 
home  of  its  own. 

The  industrial  element  enters  very  largely 
into  the  education  given  the  orphans.  The 
trades  now  taught  are  printing,  farming,  bar- 
bering,  straw-weaving,  silk  -  embroidery,  be- 
sides cooking,  washing,  sewing,  knitting,  etc. 
The  boys  hull  rice  for  their  own  food,  and  also 
for  sale  in  the  city.  They  have  the  contract 
for  the  printing  of  the  Okayama  Prefecture. 
Mr.  Ishii  has  long  wanted  to  get  some  land 
and  put  a  part  of  the  boys  to  farming.  Re- 
cent gifts  have  enabled  him  to  do  this.  By 
far  the  largest  gift  was  from  an  evangelist, 
who  sold  his  recently  inherited  estate  for 
il,880,  and  gave  it  for  the  purchase  of 
land.  Two  hundred  and  eighty-five  chil- 
dren have  been  cared  for  from  the  begin- 
ing ;  the  present  number  is  two  hundred  and 
thirty-three.  At  least  three  other  orphan- 
ages have  sprung  into  existence  through  the 
influence  of  this  one.  The  needs  of  the  in- 
stitution strongly  appeal  to  the  benevolent. 


A  NEW  IDEAL.  135 

In  writing  tlius  of  the  fruit  of  missionary 
seed-sowing  in  Japan,  I  would  not  liave  it 
forgotten  that  many  seeds  have  been  fruit- 
less, because  falling  upon  hearts  like  the 
trodden  or  stony  or  thorny  soil ;  or  that, 
among  the  wheat,  tares  also  have  been  sown. 
But,  notwithstanding  all  such  loss  and  disap- 
pointment, that  some  seeds  have  a  genuine 
and  even  abundant  fruitage  the  sowers  see 
with  joy  and  satisfaction. 

But  the  good  results  are  not  limited  to 
those  gathered  into  the  churches.  Christian- 
ity has  had,  upon  a  far  wider  circle,  an  influ- 
ence which  was  none  the  less  potent  for  being 
unrecognized.  As  Dean  Church  has  said  of 
its  influence  upon  the  Greek  race,  so  may  it 
be  said  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  upon 
the  Japanese :  "  It  (has)  put  before  the 
public  mind  a  new  ideal  of  character,  —  an 
ideal  of  the  deepest  earnestness,  of  the  most 
serious  purity,  of  unlimited  self-devotion,  of 
the  tenderest  sympathy  for  the  poor  and  the 
unhappy,  of  pity  and  care  for  the  weak,  for 
the  sinner." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   GROWTH    OF   A   CHURCH. 

The  history  in  some  detail  of  the  growth 
of  a  single  local  church  is  illustrative  of 
the  method  of  growth  which  generally  pre- 
vails. 

One  of  the  earliest  students  in  the  Doshi- 
sha  school  was  a  native  of  Kameoka,  a 
town  in  the  corner  of  Tamba,  fifteen  miles 
to  the  northwest  of  Kyoto.  He  became  a 
Christian,  and,  with  the  same  zeal  which  he 
has  since  shown  in  the  pastorate,  on  every 
visit  home  eagerly  told  his  friends  and 
neighbors  of  the  new  life  into  which  he  had 
entered.  Among  them  all,  however,  but 
one,  a  Mr.  Murakami,  a  man  somewhat 
older  than  himself,  was  at  that  time  moved 
by  the  story.  This  man  frequently  there- 
after walked  to  Ky5to  to  attend  Christian 
services,  and  was  finally  received  into  one 
of  our  churches. 

From  the  first,  the  bringing  of  the  people 
of  his  town   and   province  to  Christ  was  a 


AN  EARNEST  COLPORTEUR.  137 

cherished  purpose.  He  arranged  for  visits 
by  teachers  and  students  of  the  school,  and 
before  long  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing 
several  of  his  fellow-townsmen  confessing 
Christ.  He  had  been  connected  with  a 
sake  brewery,  but  he  gave  that  up.  Then 
he  was  chosen  to  be  the  head-man  of  his 
ward,  but  he  soon  resigned  that  position,  in 
order  to  give  his  whole  time  to  the  work  of 
a  colporteur  evangelist,  the  death  of  a  little 
bo3%  his  only  son,  having  strongly  moved 
him  to  this  work.  Yf  ith  his  loins  girt  for 
walking,  and  his  pack  of  Bibles,  tracts,  and 
hymn-books  on  his  back,  he  repeatedly  vis- 
ited all  the  important  towns  and  many  of 
the  villages  of  that  and  an  adjoining  pro- 
vince,—  nothing  daunted  even  when  the 
people  said  to  him,  very  politely  but  un- 
mistakably, that  they  did  not  wish  to  see 
him ;  or  the  local  magistrates,  on  at  least 
one  occasion,  less  politely  insisted  that  they 
did  wish  to  see  him,  and  have  him  explain 
why  he  was  selling  the  books  of  this  for- 
eisrn  religion.  So  well  known  did  he  be- 
come  through  all  that  region  that,  on  in- 
quiring of  a  countryman  whether  he  knew 
anything  about  Christianity  or  not,  he  re- 
plied :  "  Oh,  yes,  Murakami,  of  Kameoka, 


138         THE   GROWTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

is  Yasu  Kyo  "  (the  Jesus  religion).  He 
arranged  for  several  meetings  in  the  tumble- 
down theatre,  at  which  lectures  were  de- 
livered upon  educational  and  economic 
questions  to  audiences  of  from  two  to  five 
hundred.  By  this  means,  several  prominent 
men  of  the  district,  especially  school-teach- 
ers and  school-committee  men,  became  inter- 
ested, and  they  in  turn  arranged  for  meet- 
ings in  other  towns  and  villages.  One  of 
these  school-committee  men  opened  his  own 
house  to  us.  Of  two  memorable  meetings 
there,  I  wrote  at  the  time  as  follows :  — 

"  I  arrived  just  at  dusk,  two  of  our  stu- 
dents having  preceded  me  by  an  hour.  It 
began  to  rain  before  night,  and  by  the  time 
of  meeting  it  was  pouring  down  in  torrents, 
so  that  we  expected  but  few  hearers.  We 
found,  however,  a  house  full  of  people, 
more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  being 
present.  One  of  the  young  men  said  the 
rain  acted  as  a  sieve,  keeping  the  poor 
hearers  away,  and  so  filling  the  house  with 
those  only  who  have  a  sincere  desire  to 
know  about  Christianity. 

"  The  meeting  began  about  seven  o'clock 
and  lasted  till  after  ten.  One  of  the  Ka- 
meoka  Christians  first  spoke  for  about  half 


KNOTTY  QUESTIONS.  139 

an  hour  on  '  The  Worth  of  the  Soul.'  Then 
one  of  our  young  men  followed  on  '  True 
Happiness  ; '  after  that  the  other  spoke  for 
a  full  hour,  and  with  great  earnestness  and 
tenderness,  on  '  Love  ; '  I  closed  in  a  talk  of 
about  three  quarters  of  an  hour  on  the  text, 
'  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  Meat  and 
Drink.'  Through  the  whole  three  hours 
there  was  the  most  absorbed  attention." 

And  of  a  second  meeting :  — 

"  I  got  there  a  little  before  six  p.  M.  A 
few  minutes  later  several  young  men,  mostly 
teachers,  came  in,  and  after  the  usual  polite 
salutations  were  ended,  one  of  them  took  two 
or  three  books  from  his  bosom  and  went  for 
'  that  hairy  foreigner '  with  questions  of  every 
conceivable  kind  till  after  eight  o'clock,  when 
the  preaching  began.  He  had  evidently  been 
hearing  objections  to  Christianity,  and  we 
had  first  a  rapid  examination  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  including  the  creation  of 
light  before  the  sun,  the  plural  form  Elolimi 
and  its  possible  relation  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity.  Then  followed  such  questions 
as,  '  Did  the  serpent  stand  erect  before  the 
curse  ?  '  '  Can  a  serpent  have  a  moral  qual- 
ity?'  '  Where  did  Cain  get  his  wife  ? '  '  How 
at  that  stage  could  Cain  say,  "  Every  one  that 


140         THE   GROWTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

findeth  me  shall  slay  me  "  ?  '  '  Were  Adam 
and  Eve  finally  saved  ? '  '  Did  the  human 
race  descend  from  a  shigle  pair  ?  '  '  Was 
the  flood  universal  or  local  ?  '  etc,  etc. 

*'  It  is  sometimes  said  that  there  is  no 
need  of  first-class  men  going  as  missionaries. 
That  may  or  may  not  be  true ;  but  I  should 
have  been  very  glad  to  have  at  least  one 
superior  man  around  that  night,  for  I  was 
deeply  conscious  of  my  infirmities  as  an 
exegete,  a  theologian,  a  speaker  and  hearer 
of  the  Japanese  language,  a  student  of  Con- 
fucianism, and,  above  all,  as  a  persuasive 
preacher  of  salvation.  There  is  quite  a  dif- 
ference between  playing  with  such  questions 
in  the  lecture-room  and  meeting  them  at  such 
a  time  and  place  that,  humanly  speaking, 
the  salvation  of  your  questioner  may  depend 
upon  the  answers  you  give." 

The  subsequent  history  of  our  host  at 
these  meetings  was  one  of  the  sad  things 
which  missionaries  meet  from  time  to  time. 
The  young  men  who  came  to  his  house  to 
hear,  one  after  another  became  personally 
interested  in  Christianity,  but  his  interest 
did  not  increase.  While  they  made  progress 
that  could  be  seen  from  week  to  week,  he 
seemed   tethered   to    something  which   hin- 


A  SUICIDE.  141 

dered  all  advance.  Finally,  after  a  visit  to 
an  uncle  in  a  distant  province,  he  returned 
home  ill  in  body  and  mind,  and  we  were  all 
shocked  to  hear  of  his  death  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  It  soon  appeared  that  he  had  died 
by  his  own  hand  by  means  of  morphia  re- 
ceived from  his  uncle,  who  was  a  physician  ; 
the  sad  reason  being  that  he  had  aj^propri- 
ated  school  funds,  and  had  found  it  impossi- 
ble to  return  them. 

After  his  death,  letters  were  found  ad- 
dressed to  his  friends,  in  which  he  said  that 
he  was  soon  to  die  and  go,  as  he  deserved, 
to  perdition,  but  he  urged  them,  while  the 
opportunity  was  given  them,  to  repent  and 
believe  unto  salvation.  These  letters,  de- 
livered after  the  funeral,  seemed  like  mes- 
sages from  the  unseen  world,  and  produced 
a  profound  impression,  especially  upon  a 
Chinese  scholar,  the  head  of  a  large  school 
in  the  vicinity.  He  belonged  to  perhaps 
the  most  difficult  of  all  classes  to  reach,  but 
this  letter  so  stirred  the  depths  of  his  nature 
that  he  could  not  rest  until  he  found  peace 
in  believing,  —  a  course  in  which  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  members  of  his  own  family, 
and  a  number  of  the  teachers  and  pupils  of 
his    school.     I    am   glad    to    report    of    the 


142         THE   GEO  WTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

suicide's  family  that  his  mother  and  two 
brothers  became  Christians.  One  brother 
died  in  triumphant  faith  ;  the  other  is  now 
in  our  theological  school  in  Kyoto. 

One  of  our  hearers  at  the  theatre  meetings 
was  a  physician  of  moderate  means  who  then 
resided  in  the  farming  village  of  Goma,  ten 
or  twelve  miles  further  back  in  this  moun- 
tainous province.  He  afterward  went  to 
Kameoka,  had  a  long  talk  with  Mr.  Mura- 
kami, and  ended  by  inviting  him  to  visit 
Goma  once  a  month  to  explain  the  Bible  to 
himself  and  neighbors,  an  invitation  which  he 
was  glad  to  accept.  One  of  these  neighbors, 
a  notorious  gambler,  hearing  that  the  doctor 
had  become  a  student  of  the  "  Jesus  reli- 
gion," bethought  himself  of  a  copy  of  a 
Gospel  which  a  brother  had  bought  and  left 
at  his  house  long  before  and  which  he  had 
put  aside  as  unintelligible,  hunted  it  up,  and 
took  it  to  the  doctor  one  night  for  explana- 
tion. He  kept  up  these  nightly  visits  through 
twenty  days,  so  applying  the  teaching  of  the 
gospel  to  himself  that  he  became  a  repentant 
and  humble  believer  in  Christ,  and  entirely 
left  off  gambling.  The  change  wrought  in 
this  man's  heart  and  life  produced  no  small 
stir  in  the  community,  and  a  considerable 


''HEAVENLY  JOY:'  143 

number  began  to  examine  this  new  religion 
which  had  shown  such  unbeard-of  power. 
Fifteen  persons  soon  professed  to  have  re- 
pented, and,  on  our  first  and  subsequent 
visits  there,  crowded  the  little  building  given 
by  the  doctor  for  a  meeting-place.  Most  of 
them  could  read,  but  that  was  about  all,  and 
they  were  quite  plainly  and  even  roughly 
dressed,  though  very  formal  in  their  man- 
ners. After  each  address  they  would  bow 
their  heads  to  the  very  floor,  saying  together, 
"  Thank  you  for  your  trouble  in  coming  so 
far  to  speak  to  us."  The  gambler's  wife 
was  there,  ber  face  radiant  with  joy  at  the 
change  which  had  come  to  her  family.  To 
a  remark  of  one  of  our  young  men  about 
her  hope  of  future  happiness  she  replied : 
"I  am  not  waiting  till  I  go  to  heaven  for 
happiness  ;  I  have  heavenly  joy  already." 
When  a  church  was  formed  of  the  Chris- 
tians scattered  through  that  region,  the  gam- 
bler and  his  wife,  with  their  young  son,  were 
among  the  original  members.  The  mother 
expressed  the  hope  that  this  son  might  be- 
come a  Christian  preacher. 

The  church  was  organized  in  1884  with 
thirty-one  members.  Its  present  member- 
ship is  about  two  hundred  and  sixty.    Fifty- 


144         THE  GROWTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

five  were  added  on  confession  in  1890-91. 
In  the  previous  3^ear  it  employed  a  pastor  and 
two  evangelists.  The  latter  were  partly  sup- 
ported by  the  mission.  Its  members,  scat- 
tered over  a  territory  thirty-five  miles  long, 
were  divided  into  five  companies,  each  with 
a  leader.  It  had  twelve  places  for  regular 
preaching,  owned  three  (now  four)  church 
buildings,  and  rented  several  more.  It  has 
furnished  at  least  three  valuable  evangelists. 

There  is  no  time  to  speak  of  the  new  life 
of  purity,  sobriety,  faith,  hope,  and  joy  which 
many  in  this  church  are  living.  Nor  is  it 
necessary  to  point  out  that  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianizing this  province  —  extensively  and  in- 
tensively— is  only  just  begun,  or  that  here  as 
elsewhere  the  net  "  gathers  of  every  kind." 

I  cannot,  however,  forbear  speaking  of  one 
man,  Kakudo  Kobayashi.  He  was  one  of 
the  original  members  of  the  church,  and  it 
was  known  at  the  time  that  he  had  the  taint 
of  leprosy  in  his  system.  The  dread  disease 
was,  however,  quiescent,  and  it  was  hoped 
would  remain  so,  and  hence  he  mingled  freely 
with  the  other  Christians,  visited  us  in  our 
homes,  and  often  sat  with  us  at  the  commu- 
nion table.  But  of  late  years  the  disease 
become  virulent,  and  by  the  end  of  1890  he 


A   CHRISTIAN  LEPER.  145 

was  totally  blind,  and  otherwise  greatly  dis- 
figured. The  unchristian  villagers  drove  him 
out  of  the  village  ;  his  brothers  and  other 
relatives  deserted  him ;  and  he  lived  alone 
in  a  rude  hut  in  the  mountains,  receiving  a 
little  aid  from  the  prefectural  government, 
and  more  from  the  Japanese  Christians  and 
the  missionaries.  At  a  little  later  period  the 
Christians  cooked  his  food  and  otherwise 
cared  for  him,  but  for  quite  a  while  he  built 
his  own  fire  and  cooked  his  own  rice,  going, 
in  his  solitary  blindness,  to  and  from  the 
spring  that  furnished  him  with  water,  guided 
by  the  straw  rope  which  had  been  put  there 
for  that  purpose. 

The  evangelist  of  whom  I  have  already 
frequently  spoken  in  this  chapter,  hearing  of 
his  pitiable  condition,  went  to  condole  with 
him,  but  to  his  surprise  he  was  met  by  the 
assurance  that  he  was  not  an  object  of  con- 
dolence ;  that  his  heart  was  full  of  joy,  be- 
cause Kami  ga  sMju  waga  usMro  ni  oru, 
"  God  is  always  behind  me."  Think  of  it ! 
A  pauper,  an  outcast,  deserted  by  his  rela- 
tives, the  victim  of  a  disease  surely  fatal  and 
loathsome  beyond  expression,  with  no  one, 
aside  from  the  occasional  visit  of  a  Christian, 
to  speak  a  kind  word  or  lend  a  helping  hand, 


146  THE   GROWTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

yet  full  of  rejoicing  because  God  is  always 
with  him!  This  peace  and  joy  remained 
with  him  to  the  day  of  his  death,  September 
28,  1891. 

Who  would  not  preach  such  a  gospel  of 
comfort ! 

This  Christian  leper  did  acknowledge  anx- 
iety in  one  respect.  It  was  not,  however, 
for  himself,  but  for  his  church,  which  had 
just  lost  its  pastor.  Let  me  give  you  some- 
thing of  the  history  of  this  pastor  who  had 
been  called  away. 

A  dozen  years  ago  one  of  our  physicians 
made  a  number  of  visits  to  the  city  of  Taka- 
hashi,  in  the  province  of  Bitchii.  A  boy  in 
his  teens,  an  acquaintance  of  a  Japanese 
physician  who  had  become  interested  in 
Christianity,  referring  to  the  foreigner's 
coming,  spoke  of  the  loneliness  which  he 
must  feel  so  far  away  from  home.  His 
friend  replied  that  the  foreigner  was  not 
so  lonely  as  might  be  supposed,  for  he  be- 
lieved in  one  God,  a  heavenly  Father,  every- 
where present.  That  greatly  impressed  the 
boy,  who  soon  became  an  interested  hearer. 
His  father,  however,  was  bitterly  opposed, 
sought  to  confine  his  son  to  the  house, 
whipped  him   repeatedly,  and  even  swung 


A  PErSON  CHAPLAIN.  147 

him  clear  o£  his  feet  by  a  rope  tied  around 
his  thumbs.  Finally,  in  desperation  he  ran 
away  from  home.  He  went  to  a  Christian 
community  fifty  miles  away,  and  I  have  been 
told  by  a  member  of  that  community  that 
when  he  arrived  there  he  looked  like  one  far 
gone  in  consumption. 

He  soon  recuperated,  however,  and  came 
to  Kyoto  and  took  a  four  years'  course,  in  the 
vernacular  theological  department.  Upon 
graduation  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of 
this  church  scattered  among  the  mountains, 
and  served  it  most  faithfully  and  laboriously 
—  often  walking  long  distances  through  the 
roughest  weather  —  for  several  years. 

Early  in  1891,  a  strange  and  unexpected 
call  came  to  him.  In  the  Hokkaido,  in  the 
extreme  north  of  Japan,  five  hundred  of  the 
three  thousand  prisoners  in  the  Ichikishiri 
prison  united  in  requesting  the  superinten- 
dent of  the  prison  to  give  them  a  Christian 
"  moral  instructor,"  since  the  Buddhist 
priests  who  from  time  to  time  officiated  in 
the  prison  had  no  message  for  them.  This 
superintendent  had  seen  the  good  effects  of 
Christian  work  in  another  prison,  and,  con- 
senting to  the  request,  sent  to  one  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Kumi-ai  churches,  inquiring 


148         THE   GROWTH  OF  A   CHURCH. 

for  a  suitable  man.  The  request  finally  came 
to  Mr.  Tomeoka,  the  pastor  of  this  mountain 
church.  After  deliberation  and  consultation 
he  accepted  the  call,  and  in  May  last  entered 
upon  his  duties  there.  Every  Sunday  after- 
noon the  three  thousand  prisoners  are 
marched  in,  and  he  addresses  them  upon 
Christian  morality  ;  and  on  Sunday  mornings 
he  has  a  Bible -class  which  between  three 
and  four  hundred  of  the  prisoners  volunta- 
rily attend.  Several  persons  connected  with 
the  prisons  have  already  been  baptized.  So 
highly  appreciated  is  his  work  that  in  an- 
other large  prison  two  other  Christian 
"  moral  instructors "  have  since  been  ap- 
pointed. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   KUMI-AI,    OR   ASSOCIATED,    CHURCHES. 

I  HAVE  already  given  an  account  of  the 
formation  of  the  first  Christian  church  in 
Japan.  The  first  two  churches  connected 
with  the  mission  of  the  American  Board 
were  organized  about  two  years  later,  in  the 
spring  of  1874.  One  of  these  was  in  Kobe, 
and  consisted  of  eleven  members  ;  the  other, 
in  Osaka,  had  seven  members.  Their  creed 
was  the  nine  articles  of  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance; their  church  rules  of  the  simplest 
nature ;  their  name,  "  The  Church  of 
Christ."  To  this  they  affixed  the  local 
name,  and  had  no  thought  of  adding  any- 
thing further.  The  name  Kuml-ai  came 
several  years  later,  and  was  at  first  used  in- 
formally, and  especially  by  outsiders,  who 
felt  the  need  of  some  term  to  distinguish 
these  churches  from  Chord  Kydhvjai  (Pres- 
byterian Church),  Kantoku  Kyokwai  (Epis- 
copal Church),  etc.  It  is  not  a  translation 
of   "  Congregational,"  but  means  joined^  or 


150  THE  KUMI-AI  CHURCHES. 

linked  together.     From  the  first,  three  ideas 
characterized  these  churches  :  — 

1.  They  were  to  he  evangelistic. 

Soon  after  their  organization,  a  member 
of  the  mission  wrote  :  "  It  has  been  our  aim 
from  the  beginning  to  impress  upon  all  mem- 
bers, male  and  female,  that  their  business  is 
to  preach  Christ,  and  ten  of  the  twelve 
male  members  have  preached,  with  more  or 
less  regularity,  ever  since  they  united  with 
the  church.  The  whole  region  around  us 
seems  to  have  received  the  impression  that 
to  become  a  member  of  the  church  means  to 
become  a  preacher  of  the  Word.  A  short 
time  since,  when  the  question  of  forming  a 
church  was  proposed  to  a  little  company  of 
Christians  in  Sanda,  one  objection  came  to 
all  their  minds  at  once,  that  they  did  not 
know  enough  to  preach."  That  the  evan- 
gelization of  their  country  was  to  be  mainly 
their  own  work  was  urged  upon  the  Chris- 
tians from  the  start. 

2.  They  were  to  he  self-governing. 

This  their  simple  church  rules  made 
clear.  There  was  nothing  which  put  them 
under  the  authority  of  the  missionaries,  the 
American  Board,  or  the  Congregational 
churches  of  the  United  States.     They  were, 


THREE   CHARACTERISTIC  IDEAS.       151 

and  always  have  been,  treated  as  freemen 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

3.  They  were  to  he  self-supporting. 
Another  missionary  writes  :  "  I  have  been 
pleased  to  see  how  readily  they  fall  in  with 
the  idea  of  self-support  and  self-propaga- 
tion. Whatever  may  be  right  elsewhere, 
there  ought  to  be  no  question  about  hadng 
the  Japanese  support  their  own  pastors,  and 
build  their  own  churches,  from  almost  the 
first,  if  not  from  the  very  first."  The 
Christians  felt  it  would  compromise  them  in 
the  eyes  of  their  unchristian  countrymen  if 
they  received  foreign  money,  and  so  they 
paid  their  own  way  on  the  first  evangelis- 
tic tours ;  and  the  young  man  whom  they 
hoped  would  become  the  first  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Kobe  declined  to  do  so,  think- 
ing it  better  to  go  into  business,  for  which 
he  had  special  qualifications,  and  aid  in 
the  support  of  others.  So  strong  was  this 
fegling,  that  missionaries  feared  it  would 
greatly  limit  the  work,  and  especially  the 
training  of  men  for  the  ministry.  Subse- 
quent events  have  not,  however,  justified 
this  fear. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  these  high  ideals 
have  not  been  fully  realized ;  but  it  is  un- 


152  THE  KUMI-Al    CHURCHES. 

questionable  that  tliey  have  been  prominent 
in  all  the  subsequent  history  of  the  churches, 
as  even  the  briefest  examination  will  show. 

Following  the  order  already  given,  j^t 
not  attempting  to  keep  these  three  ideas 
entirely  distinct,  we  notice,  first,  that  the 
churches  have  been  always,  above  all  things 
else,  evangelistic.  The  progress  made  shows 
that.  The  two  churches,  of  eighteen  members 
in  1874,  have  grown  to  seventy-one  churches,^ 
with  a  membership  of  over  ten  thousand,  ex- 
tending from  Satsuma  in  the  south  to  the 
Hokkaido  in  the  north.  They  include  one 
hundred  and  twenty -nine  preachers  and 
teachers  (twenty-eight  of  whom  are  ordained 
ministers),  who  preach  regularly  in  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-five  places,  to  congregations 
which  aggregate  eight  thousand  people.  The 
net  gain  of  membership  during  1891  was 
806.  Their  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
Sunday-schools  have  seven  thousand  pupils. 
A  good  deal  of  strength  has  been  spent,  in 
educational  work.  Several  flourishing  boys' 
schools  are  entirely  supported  and  managed 

^  These  churches  all  have  creeds,  covenants,  rules,  and 
officers,  and  admit  and  dismiss  members  ;  some  of  them, 
however,  because  they  are  not  financially  independent, 
have  not  received  formal  recognition.  None  with  a  mem- 
bership of  less  than  twenty  is  counted. 


THE  DENDO-GWAISHA.  153 

by  members  of  these  cburches.  The  same  is 
true  of  ten  very  influential  schools  for  girls, 
with  their  six  hundred  pupils. 

But  the  greatest  enthusiasm  has  always 
centred  in  the  Dendo- gwaisha^  or  Mis- 
sionary Society.  It  was  formed  in  1878. 
It  was  the  first  cause  which  brought  our 
young  churches  together,  and  for  a  long 
time  its  annual  meeting  was  the  only  regu- 
lar meeting  the  churches  had.  Its  first 
president  w^as  our  beloved  Neesima. 

At  the  start,  this  society  used  only  such 
money  as  the  Japanese  themstlves  contrib- 
uted. They  wished,  however,  to  enlarge 
their  work,  and  it  was  plain  that  the  evan- 
gelists could  not  work  permanently  on  the 
pittance  received  by  the  first  workers.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  missionaries  wished 
their  advice  and  aid,  and  so  they  agreed  to 
furnish  six  dollars  for  every  four  given  by 
the  Japanese,  the  whole  sum  to  be  adminis- 
tered by  a  joint  committee.  In  this  way  a 
larger  work  was  done,  and  the  danger  from 
using  foreign  funds,  of  weakening  the  spirit 
of  the  churches,  was  minunized.  The  propor- 
tion from  the  mission  was  changed  subse- 
quently, and  at  present  a  lump  sum  is 
granted,   the  administration    continuing   as 


154  THE  KUMI-AI  CHURCHES. 

before,  with  tlie  exception  that  the  question 
of  individual  salaries  is  decided  by  the  Japa- 
nese alone. 

In  1891  -  92  the  society  had  nineteen 
evangelists  working  in  twenty-five  different 
places,  for  which  the  Japanese  raised  more 
than  11,000  silver.  The  number  of  Chris- 
tians under  the  care  of  these  evangelists  was 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-three. 

Of  our  seventy-one  churches,  forty-four 
are  reported  as  entirely  self  -  supporting. 
The  others  are  partially  so.  Their  contri- 
butions in  the  year  in  question  are  reported 
as  more  than  125,000.  This  is  enough  to 
show  that  the  idea  of  self-support  has  not 
been  abandoned. 

As  to  self-government,  it  may  be  doubted 
if  it  prevails  to  an  equal  degree  in  any 
other  mission  field.  The  Christians  organ- 
ize churches;  examine  and  admit  members, 
and,  when  necessary,  discipline  and  expel 
them.  They  call,  examine,  and  ordain  their 
own  ministers,  adopt  their  own  creeds,  and 
modify  them  at  their  pleasure.  In  their 
stated  and  special  meetings,  missionaries 
are  there  as  advisory  members,  and  are 
usually  treated  very  courteously,  but  they 
have  no  vote,  nor  do  they  wish  one.     Our 


REPRESENTATIVE   GOVERNMENT.     155 

advice  is  constantly  sought  and  given,  and 
frequently  taken,  but  we  should  no  more 
think  of  interfering  in  their  decisions,  or  en- 
tering their  pulpits  unasked,  than  we  should 
of  committing  similar  breaches  of  df/^  "um 
in  the  United  States. 

The  meetings  of  our  huJcwal  (associations 
or  presbyteries)  have  been  great  object-les- 
sons to  the  people.  Since  1868  the  eyes  of 
every  intelligent  Ja23anese  have  been  turned 
longingly  toward  the  promised  time  when 
the  Tenshi  should  establish  a  representative 
government.  AU  their  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions have  centred  in  this,  so  that,  as  the 
unchristian  men  have  come  into  these  meet- 
ings and  seen  the  delegates,  after  electing 
their  own  presiding  officer,  proceed  in  an 
orderly  manner  to  discuss  and  decide  ques- 
tions of  importance  to  the  churches,  they 
have  said,  "  This  is  just  what  we  want."  It 
is  beyond  question  that  their  representative 
form  of  government  has  been  a  great  aid 
to  the  evangelistic  work  of  the  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  churches. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

DOSHISHA    (one-purpose    COMPANY)    UNI- 
VERSITY. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the 
prominence  given  in  the  beginning  of  mis- 
sionary work  to  education.  Changing  cir- 
cumstances may  have  lessened  the  amount 
of  this  as  compared  with  evangelistic  work, 
but  the  importance,  the  necessity  of  it,  is 
still  almost  universally  recognized.  Every 
mission,  in  addition  to  its  theological  school, 
—  concerning  which  there  is,  of  course,  no 
question,  —  has  its  schools  for  boys  and  its 
schools  for  girls  ;  and  the  larger  missions 
are  seeking  to  build  up  colleges.  Of  these 
higher  institutions  the  Doshisha  University, 
which  is  in  close  relationship  with  the  mis- 
sion of  the  American  Board,  may  be  taken 
as  a  representative. 

From  a  very  early  period,  the  mission  not 
only  established  primary  schools,  it  also 
purposed  more  advanced  educational  work. 
It  was    consequently    very  ready  to   coope- 


A   COLLEGE  PLANNED  FOR.  157 

rate,  as  far  as  was  in  its  power,  with  Dr. 
Neesima  in  his  efforts  to  realize  the  great 
purpose  with  which  he  returned  to  Japan, 
—  the  founding  of  a  Christian  college. 

Thus,  in  its  report  on  the  Japan  Mission 
in  1875,  the  Board,  in  speaking  of  the  as 
yet  unestablished  school  whose  location  in 
Kyoto  was  then  under  consideration,  said  : 
"  This  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  the  nucleus  of 
an  institution  which  will  meet  the  rapidly 
opening  demands  for  a  thoroughly  scientific 
yet  Christian  education."  And  early  in  the 
following  year,  "an  earnest  and  eloquent 
appeal  from  the  mission  for  f  100,000  for 
the  immediate  endowment  and  equipment 
of  a  Christian  college,"  is  spoken  of.^ 

In  the  spring  of  1875,  Dr.  Neesima  met 
Yamamoto,  the  blind  councilor  of  the  Kyoto 
government,  who  had  become  interested  in 
Christianity  through  intercourse  with  mis- 
sionaries, and  was  encouraged  by  him  to 
locate  the  proposed  school  in  that  city. 
Kyoto  had  been  for  a  thousand  years  the 
capital  and  residence  of  the  Mikados,  now 
recently  restored  to  power.  It  was  the  cen- 
tre of  the  Buddhist  religion,  which  had 
there    3,500     temples    and    8,000    priests. 

1  Appendix  A. 


158  DOSHISHA    UNIVERSITY. 

Shintoism,  so  closely  related  to  the  throne 
and  family  of  the  Mikados,  also  had  there  its 
2,500  shrines  and  priests.  The  murderous 
attack  upon  the  British  Embassy  and  the 
assassination  in  its  streets  of  Yokoi  Hei- 
shiro,  a  councilor  of  the  Mikado,  because  of 
suspected  friendliness  to  Christianity,  only 
a  few  years  before,  were  indications  of  its 
extreme  conservatism.  Now,  to  establish  a 
Christian  college  in  such  a  city,  where  every 
foreign  teacher  must  have  a  residence  pass- 
port from  the  central  government,  and  all 
real  estate  must  be  owned  by  the  Japanese, 
was  a  hazardous  undertaking.  Even  the 
hopeful  Neesima  had  "  thought  of  Kyoto  as 
the  last  place  to  be  opened  to  Christianity," 
and  in  Jul}^  1875,  could  not  say  more  than 
that  his  "skeptical  cloud  was  almost  clear- 
ing up."  So  strong,  however,  was  the  mis- 
sion's belief  that  it  was  being  divinely  led 
id  establish  the  school  in  Kyoto,  that  it 
encouraged  Messrs.  Neesima  and  Yamamoto 
to  form  the  One-purpose  Company,  and  ap- 
proved their  purchase,  for  the  school,  of  land 
just  north  of  the  Emperor's  palace.  And 
so  in  November  of  that  year  the  Doshisha 
school  was  opened  with  two  teachers  and 
eight  pupils. 


INFLUENTIAL  FRIENDS.  159 

Its  opening  was  the  signal  for  tlie  most 
violent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  ten 
thousand  priests  of  the  city,  and  they  be- 
sieged the  weak  and  vacillating  governor 
with  presents  and  threats  until  he  finally 
withdrew  his  confidence,  not  only  in  Dr. 
Neesima,  but  in  Yamamoto  also,  and  became 
a  secret  enemy  to  the  school.  For  years  its 
life,  to  human  eyes,  was  suspended  by  a 
slender  thread,  but  by  the  patient  labors  of 
principal  and  teachers,  and  the  pure  and 
purposeful  lives  of  its  students,  it  gradually 
won  its  way  to  the  hearts  of  the  people. 

In  securing  this  happy  result  the  friend- 
ships which  Dr.  Neesima  had  formed  with 
the  members  of  Iwakura's  embassy,  during 
his  association  with  them  in  America  and  Eu- 
rope in  1871-72,  played  an  important  part. 
Ito,  Kido,  and  Tanaka,  though  of  necessity 
cautious  in  their  actions,  remained  his 
stanch  friends,  and  through  their  influence 
other  men  of  position  became  his  supporters. 
The  new  governor  of  Kyoto,  Kitagaki,  was 
one  of  these.  Count  Inouye,  for  so  long  the 
influential  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs,  was 
another.  He  repeatedly  visited  the  school 
and  became  its  avowed  friend.  In  the  spring 
of  1888,  he  invited  a  number  of  men  of  rank 


/ 
V 


160  DO  SHIS  HA    UNIVERSITY. 

and  wealth  to  a  dinner  party,  presented  the 
claims  of  the  school  to  them,  subscribed  a 
thousand  dollars  himself,  and  secured  thirty 
thousand  dollars  more  from  his  guests,  for  a 
department  of  law  and  economics. 

When  he  returned  from  America,  Dr. 
Neesima  had  found  the  people  all  looking 
forward  to  the  establishment  of  a  represent- 
ative government  as  the  panacea  for  all  na- 
tional ills.  He  boldly  said  to  them,  how- 
ever, that  a  representative  government  could 
be  stable  and  salutary  in  its  influence  only 
as  founded  upon  a  pure  morality.  For  that 
morality  he  held  that  Christianity  furnished 
the  only  basis  ;  and  so  he  not  only  urged 
them  personally  to  accept  Christianity,  —  he 
also  expressed  his  desire  and  purpose  to 
found  a  department  in  the  Doshisha  in 
which  men  could  receive  under  Christian  in- 
fluences the  legal  and  economic  instruction 
necessary  to  make  them  intelligent  voters 
and  legislators.  The  purpose  of  the  Do- 
shisha school,  he  declared,  was  "  not  merely 
to  give  instruction  in  English  and  other 
branches  of  learning,  but  to  impart  higher 
moral  and  spiritual  principles,  and  to  train 
up  not  only  men  of  science  and  learning,  but 
men  of  conscientiousness  and  sincerity.    We 


HARRIS  SCHOOL   OF  SCIENCE.         161 

believe  this  can  be  done  .  .  .  only  by  a 
thorough  education  founded  on  the  Chris- 
tian principles  of  faith  in  God,  love  of 
truth,  and  benevolence  to  one's  fellow-men. 
.  .  .  We  believe  that  it  is  our  special  work 
to  nourish  the  spirit  of  self-reliance  in  our 
students'  bosoms,  and  to  train  up  a  self-gov- 
erning people." 

In  November,  1888,  these  views  were  an- 
nounced simultaneously  through  the  twenty 
leading  newspapers  of  the  Empire  ;  the  pro- 
gress already  achieved  was  briefly  narrated  ; 
and  a  special  appeal  was  made  to  his  coun- 
trymen for  further  funds  to  establish  this 
department.  As  a  result,  the  school  was 
brought  prominently  before  the  whole  coun- 
try, and  the  endowment  fund  was  raised  to 
157,000  silver,  $45,000  of  the  whole  being 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees. 

This  "  School  of  Political  Science  and 
Law,"  whose  endowment  was  thus  begun, 
was  opened  in  1891.  It  has  two  three-year 
courses,  and  aims  to  do  thorough  university 
work. 

A  scientific  school  has  also  been  estab- 
lished. Mr.  J.  N.  Harris,  of  New  London, 
Conn.,  whose  desire  that  science  be  taught  to 
the  Japanese  under  Christian  auspices  first 


162  D  asm  SEA   UNIVERSITY. 

found  expression  in  a  gift  of  f  15,000  for  a 
Science  Hall,  afterwards  increased  his  gift 
to  1100,000,  thus  founding  "  The  Harris 
School  of  Science."  It  has  been  in  opera- 
tion since  September,  1891.  Probably  no 
single  thing  has  done  so  much  to  convince 
the  Japanese  that  the  presence  of  American 
missionaries  in  their  country  has  a  larger 
and  nobler  meaning  than  the  mere  propaga- 
tion of  a  sect  as  Mr.  Harris's  royal  gift. 

The  establishment  and  endowment  of  two 
departments  have  just  been  spoken  of.  The 
collegiate  and  theological  departments,  which 
have  been  much  longer  in  operation,  are  still 
practically  without  endowment,  being  de- 
pendent financially  upon  tuition  fees  and  a 
small  annual  grant  from  the  American 
Board.  Could  Christians  of  wealth  find 
any  more  promising  object  for  their  bene- 
ficence than  this  ? 

Mrs.  Byron  W.  Clarke,  of  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  has  just  given  110,000  for  the  erec- 
tion of  a  Theological  Hall  as  a  memorial  to 
her  son. 

In  addressing  his  plea  to  the  Japanese 
public.  Dr.  Neesima  naturally  enough  said 
very  little  of  the  missionaries'  part  in  the 
school,  or  of  the  relation  of  the  school  to  the 


NUMBER   OF  STUDENTS.  163 

cliurclies.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  students 
came  almost  entirely  from  the  churches  and 
the  communities  in  which  Christian  work 
was  groin  Of  on.  Our  students  went  out  from 
the  school  in  the  vacations  with  burning  zeal 
as  preachers  of  the  gospel.  They  returned 
not  only  with  the  story  of  converts  to  the 
faith,  but  with  bright  boys  and  young  men 
as  candidates  for  admission  to  the  school, 
and,  when  our  girls'  schools  were  founded, 
pupils  for  them  also. 

There  is  scarcely  a  pastor  or  evangelist 
working  in  connection  with  the  Kumi-ai 
churches  who  has  not  spent  a  longer  or 
shorter  time  within  the  walls  of  the  school. 
Frequently,  at  the  annual  meetings  of  our 
churches,  I  have  noted  that  three  fourths  or 
more  of  the  delegates  were  former  students 
of  the  Doshisha.  In  1891-92,  the  students 
in  all  departments  numbered  five  hundred 
and  twenty-two  and  came  from  forty-four 
different  prefectures.  Of  these  eighty-three 
were  in  the  theological  department.  nJ 

There  have  been  graduated  from  its  Eng- 
lish theological  course  forty-five  men,  and 
from  its  special  theological  course  of  four 
years  sixty-five  men  ;  in  all,  one  hundred 
and   ten   theological    graduates.     Of  these, 


164  DOSHISHA    UNIVERSITY. 

eighty -one  are  preaching,  seventeen  are 
teaching,  and  four  are  still  pursuing  their 
studies.  From  the  collegiate  department 
one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  have  been 
V  sent  out.     Of  these,  thirty-six  are  preaching 

or  studying  theology,  fifty-eight  are  teachers, 
forty-five  are  students,  twenty-one  are  in 
business,  five  are  editors,  and  two  are  in 
the  diplomatic  service.  Besides  the  above- 
named  graduates,  more  than  eighteen  hun- 
dred young  men  have  been  connected  with 
the  school  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period. 
Less  than  ten  students  have  been  graduated 
^^  from    the    collegiate  department  who  have 

not  been  professing  Christians. 

Mr.  Kozaki,  Dr.  Neesima's  successor,  has 
already  been  spoken  of.  He  is  of  a  philoso- 
phic bent  of  mind  and  of  wide  scholarship. 
He  is  a  sympathetic  and  impressive  preacher, 
and  profoundly  interested  in  the  religious 
welfare  of  the  students,  the  prosperity  of 
the  theological  department,  and  the  speedy 
Christianization  of  Japan. 

In  order  to  indicate  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  work  done  in  the  school,  the  names  of 
the  faculty  are  given  in  Appendix  B. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MEDICAL   MISSIONS. 

Christians  are  discerning  as  never  before 
that  their  mission  is  to  all  men,  and  to  the 
whole  of  man's  nature.  They  see  that  it 
was  no  accident  by  which  our  Lord  gave  so 
much  of  his  time  and  strength  to  the  healing 
of  bodily  diseases,  and  that  the  healers  of 
the  sick,  no  less  than  the  preachers  of  the 
truth,  are  his  ministers.  One  of  the  most 
striking  characteristics  of  tliis  missionary 
century  is  the  increased  attention  every- 
where given  to  the  physical  condition  and 
environment  of  those  whom  it  is  hoped  may 
be  Christianized.  This  is  one  of  the  many 
spiritual  gifts  which  foreign  missions  have 
bestowed  upon  Christendom. 

It  is  a  shallow  and  unchristian  view  of 
medical  missions  which  makes  them  merely 
a  wise  contrivance  for  introducing  Christian- 
ity among  those  indifferent  or  opposed  to  it, 
by  influence  gained  over  or  favors  conferred 
upon   the   sick   and   unfortunate.     Such   a 


166  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

motive  and  method  of  work  are  shamed  out 
of  countenance  by  the  unreckoning  liberality 
of  Him  who  went  about  doing  good.  Nor, 
on  the  other  hand,  would  it  be  just  to  regard 
our  Saviour's  miracles  or  modern  medical 
missions  as  springing  merely  from  a  desire 
for  man's  physical  well  -  being,  with  no 
thought  of  his  spiritual  interests.  The  re- 
lief of  physical  pain,  disease,  and  deformity 
is  an  absolute  good  in  itself.  And  yet  the 
Christian  medical  missionary  cannot  be  con- 
tent with  that  alone  ;  he  ever  works  in  the 
hope  that  upon  his  patients  and  their  friends 
may  come  a  greater  blessing  than  the  mate- 
ria medica  or  the  surgeon's  knife  can  give. 
It  is  also  beyond  question  that  those  who 
value  this  latter  blessing  most  highly  are 
the  most  untiring  in  the  bestowal  of  the 
former. 

Medical  missions  had  early  representatives 
in  Japan.  Of  the  six  missionaries  who  ar- 
rived there  in  1859,  two  were  physicians. 
One  of  these  in  the  next  year  severed  his 
connection  with  the  society  which  sent  him 
out.  The  other.  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn,  who 
left  a  lucrative  practice  in  New  York  city 
to  become  a  medical  missionary,  is  still  in 
Japan,  though  since  1878  literary  work  has 


DOCTOR  HEPBURN.  167 

occupied  his  attention.  He  opened  a  dis- 
pensary in  Kanagawa  soon  after  his  arrival. 
This  dispensary  found  favor  with  the  people, 
who  patronized  it  freely  until  the  govern- 
ment, in  its  hatred  and  fear  of  foreigners 
and  e;^peciaily  of  Christianity,  fo  bade  their 
attendance.  A,  was  closed  temporarily,  but 
reopened  again  in  Yokohama  in  18G2,  where 
it  was  continued  until  1878.  "  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  poor  sufferers  were  re- 
lieved of  their  ailments,  while  their  spiritual 
needs  were  at  the  same  time  attended  to, 
in  several  cases  with  the  happiest  results. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  benevolent  pur- 
pose in  this  work  also  exerted  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  final  removal  of  the  peo- 
ple's bitter  opposition  to  Christianity."  I 
cannot  forbear  adding  a  word  in  reference 
to  the  hospitality  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hepburn. 
For  many  years  their  house  was  the  resort 
not  only  of  missionaries  passing  through 
Yokohama,  but  of  all  visiting  Americans. 
In  recognition  of  this,  naval  officers  used  to 
speak  jocularly  of  Mrs.  Hepburn  as  "  the 
mother  of  the  United  States  Navy." 

For  more  than  twelve  years  Dr.  Hepburn 
was  the  only  medical  missionary  in  Japan. 
Beyond  question  his  success  in  treating  ob- 


168  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

scure  and  stubborn  diseases,  especially  his 
operations  for  the  removal  of  cataract  and 
for  other  affections  of  the  eye,  had  much  to 
do  in  creating  among  the  Japanese  a  desire 
for  a  knowledge  of  foreign  medicine.  This 
desire  becoming  known  to  our  missionary 
societies,  there  was  a  considerable  influx  of 
physicians  in  1872  and  the  immediately  suc- 
ceeding years.  These  new  men  everywhere 
received  a  warm  welcome,  one  in  striking  con- 
trast to  that  accorded  to  their  predecessors. 

Dr.  Berry  (A.  B.  C.  F.  M.)  was  met  on  his 
arrival  by  an  invitation  from  the  physicians 
of  Kyoto  to  locate  there,  and  they  offered 
him  the  use  of  a  house  free.  The  Kyoto  gov- 
ernor and  vice-governor  received  him  with 
deference  and  attention ;  but  as  they  could 
not  give  him  freedom  to  teach  Christianity 
publicly  in  that  inland  city,  he  declined  to  go. 
He  became  connected  with  a  hospital  in 
Kobe  (a  treaty  port),  where  he  not  only 
successfully  treated  many  patients,  but  had 
a  number  of  physicians  under  his  instruc- 
tion. Visits  were  made  to  surrounding 
towns,  and  many  sick  were  treated  in  con- 
nection with  the  native  physicians.  These 
physicians  furnished  the  medicines  for  the 
poor  patients,  and  buildings  for  the  dispen- 


A  JAPANESE  PHYSICIAN.  169 

saries.  These  buildings  were  also  used  as 
chapels.  In  some  places  this  work  contin- 
ued for  a  considerable  time,  and  the  ex- 
istence of  such  churches  as  those  at  Sanda 
and  Akashi  bear  witness  to  the  good  accom- 
plished. Elsewhere  the  local  officials,  re- 
garding it  as  Kirishtan^  —  a  name  by  which 
for  two  centuries  the  Japanese  had  learned 
to  stigmatize  Christianity  as  diabolical, 
speedily  obstructed  it,  and  so  the  hoped-for 
churches  were  not  formed.  The  writer,  who 
went  out  at  this  time,  was  soon  led  by  the 
wide-open  doors  to  abandon  medical  jDractice, 
and  give  himself  exclusively  to  educational 
and  directly  religious  work. 

Dr.  Adams  (A.  B.  C.  F.  M.),  at  Osaka, 
succeeded  in  organizing  a  native  medical 
society.  In  connection  with  the  leading 
member  of  this  society,  he  opened  a  dispen- 
sary and  drug-store.  This  man  had  learned 
to  read  English  very  well  without  a  teacher, 
using  a  Dutch-English  dictionary.  Writing 
of  him  in  1875,  Dr.  Neesima  said :  "  I 
preached  in  Osaka  last  Sabbath,  and  bap- 
tized an  influential  native  physician  of  the 
city.  He  has  fifty  medical  pupils,  and  gives 
them  lectures  on  physiology,  anatomy,  chem- 
istry, etc.    Besides  his  daily  task,  he  gathers 


170  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

his  neighbors  and  reads  to  them  every  night 
the  New  Testament,  using  '  Barnes's  Notes ' 
for  explanation.  Through  his  efforts  I  trust 
four  or  five  men  have  already  become  Chris- 
tians." The  evangelistic  work  thus  begun 
resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Naniwa 
Church.  The  untimely  death  of  this  phy- 
sician and  of  Dr.  Adams  was  a  great  blow 
to  the  work  in  Osaka, 

Dr.  Taylor,  of  the  same  mission,  afterwards 
took  up  this  work.  He  is  now  consulting 
physician  to  three  hospitals,  and  in  1891 
saw  2,533  patients.  The  church  at  Hikone 
is  an  outgrowth  in  part  of  Dr.  Taylor's 
earlier  work.  He  has  made  special  and 
valuable  researches  into  the  origin  of  hahhe. 
—  an  obscure  disease  peculiar  to  Japan,  but 
related  to  the  heri-heri  of  India,  —  and  per- 
formed many  major  operations  which  have 
justly  attracted  attention. 

Dr.  Laning  (Protestant  Episcopal)  has  for 
many  years  carried  on  a  successful  work  in 
connection  with  St.  Barnabas's  Hospital, 
founded  by  him  in  the  same  city. 

Dr.  MacDonald  (Canadian  Methodist), 
spent  four  years  in  Shizuoka,  where,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  treatment  of  many  sick,  the  di- 
rect evangelistic  result  of  his  labors  was  a 


PHYSICIANS    WORSHIPED.  171 

net  ingathering  of  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
believers.  Since  then,  he  has  been  doing  a 
wider  work  in  Tokyo. 

Dr.  Theobald  Palm  (Edinburgh  Medical 
Mission),  a  man  of  rare  gifts  and  spirit, 
spent  several  years  at  Niigata.  During  one 
year  he  treated  2,950  patients,  this  medical 
work  being  more  than  self-supporting.  As 
a  result  of  his  labors  and  those  of  his  Jap- 
anese associates,  preaching  was  maintained 
for  a  time  in  thirteen  different  places,  and 
eighty-eight  were  baptized.  Dr.  Palm's  re- 
call prevented  the  full  ripening  of  results. 

Dr.  Berry's  medical  work  was  a  most  im- 
portant element  in  the  opening  of  Okayama 
and  neighboring  prefectures  to  evangelistic 
effort.  In  connection  with  Dr.  Buckley,  he 
is  now  carrying  on  a  hospital  and  school  for 
nurses  in  Kyoto.  The  number  of  patients 
last  year  was  2,400.  At  the  time  of  the 
recent  earthquakes.  Dr.  Berry  was  promptly 
on  the  ground  with  a  well  trained  corps  of 
assistants.  Over  five  hundred  patients  were 
treated.  By  the  skill  and  kindness  shown, 
inestimable  good  was  accomplished,  the  more 
ignorant  patients  in  their  gratitude  literally 
worshiping  their  benefactors. 

I  regret  that  I  cannot  give  fuller  accounts 


172  MEDICAL  MISSIONS. 

of  the  noble  work  done  by  our  medical  mis- 
sionaries, some  of  whom  I  have  not  even 
named. 

In  regard  to  medical  missions  in  Japan,  I 
think  it  is  the  general  feeling  that  the  need 
is  far  less  than  in  many  other  fields.  This 
is  mainly  because  a  corps  of  Japanese  phy- 
sicians of  fairly  high  order  is  being  trained 
in  the  government  schools.  The  general 
readiness  of  the  people  to  listen  to  Chris- 
tian preaching  also  bears  upon  this  question. 

The  excellency  of  the  Japanese  physicians 
makes  it  imperative  that  the  missionary  phy- 
sicians who  do  go  there  should  have  thorough 
qualifications.  Such  physicians  can  become 
the  leaders  and  advisers  of  the  native  doctors 
in  the  treatment  of  difficult  diseases,  and 
especially  in  questions  of  public  sanitation, 
as  is  exemplified  in  the  work  of  the  mission- 
ary physicians  now  on  the  ground.  They 
also  give  great  impetus  to  the  medical  treat- 
ment of  the  poor. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

CHRISTIAN  WOMANHOOD. 

In  Japan  woman  lias  never  been  relegated 
to  the  extremely  secluded  and  degraded  po- 
sition she  occupies  in  India,  Turkey,  and 
China.  As  a  rule,  she  has  been  treated 
with  kindness,  and  the  wife  and  mother  es- 
pecially have  been  freer  and  more  respected 
among  the  Japanese  than  among  any  other 
Asiatic  people.  That  her  position  has  been 
different  from  that  accorded  to  her  in 
Ajnerica  may  be  gathered  from  a  few  ex- 
tracts from  a  famous  and  popular  work  en- 
titled "  She  Great  Learning  for  Women."  I 
foUow  Professor  Chamberlain's  translation. 

"  Seeing  that  it  is  a  girl's  destiny,  on  reach- 
ing womanhood,  to  go  to  a  new  home,  and 
live  in  submission  to  her  father-in-law  and 
mother  -  in  -  law,  it  is  even  more  incumbent 
upon  her  than  it  is  on  a  boy  to  receive 
with  all  reverence  her  parents'  instructions. 
Should  her  parents,  through  excess  of  ten- 
derness, allow  her   to  grow  up  self-willed, 


174  CHRISTIAN    WOMANHOOD. 

she  will  infallibly  sliow  herself  capricious  in 
her  husband's  house,  and  thus  alienate  his 
affection,  while,  if  her  father-in-law  be  a 
man  of  correct  principles,  the  girl  will  find 
the  yoke  of  these  principles  intolerable ;  she 
will  hate  and  decry  her  father-in-law,  and 
the  end  will  be  dismissal  from  her  husband's 
house,  and  the  covering  of  herself  with 
ignominy."  ''  The  only  qualities  that  befit 
a  woman  are  gentle  obedience,  chastity, 
mercy,  and  quietness."  "The  customs  of 
antiquity  did  not  allow  men  and  women  to 
sit  in  the  same  apartment,  to  keep  their 
wearing  apparel  in  the  same  place,  or  to 
transmit  to  each  other  anything  directly 
from  hand  to  hand." 

"After  marriage,  her  chief  duty  is  to 
honor  her  father-in-law  and  mother-in-law." 
"  On  every  point  must  she  inquire^f  them, 
and  abandon  herself  to  their  direction." 
"  The  great  life-long  duty  of  a  woman  is 
obedience  :  when  the  husband  issues  his 
instructions,  the  wife  must  never  disobey 
them.  In  doubtful  cases,  she  should  inquire 
of  her  husband,  and  obediently  follow  his 
commands."  "A  woman  should  look  upon 
her  husband  as  heaven  itself,  and  never 
weary  of  thinking  how  she  may  yield  to  her 


A   WIFE'S  DUTIES.  175 

husband,  and  thus  escape  celestial  castiga- 
tion."  "  She  must  value  her  father-in-law 
and  mother-in-law  even  more  than  her  own 
parents,  and  tend  them  with  all  filial  piety. 
Her  visits,  also,  to  the  paternal  house,  should 
be  rare  after  marriage."  "  She  must  sew 
her  father-in-law's  and  mother-in-law's  gar- 
ments, and  make  ready  their  food.  Ever 
attentive  to  the  requirements  of  her  hus- 
band, she  must  fold  his  clothes,  dust  his 
rug,  rear  his  children,  wash  what  is  dirty, 
be  constantly  in  the  midst  of  her  household, 
and  never  go  abroad  but  of  necessity." 

"  The  five  worst  maladies  that  afflict  the 
female  mind  are :  indocility,  discontent, 
slander,  jealousy,  and  silliness.  Without 
any  doubt,  these  five  maladies  infest  seven 
or  eight  out  of  every  ten  women,  and  it  is 
from  these  that  arises  the  inferiority  of 
women  to  men.  A  woman  should  cure 
them  by  self-inspection  and  self-reproach. 
The  worst  of  them  all,  and  the  parent  of 
the  other  four,  is  silliness.  Woman's  nature 
is  passive  [literally,  shade'].  This  passive- 
ness,  being  of  the  nature  of  night,  is  dark. 
Hence,  as  viewed  from  the  standard  of  man's 
nature,  the  foolishness  of  woman  fails  to  un- 
derstand the  duties  that  lie  before  her  very 


176  CHRISTIAN   WOMANHOOD. 

eyes."  "  Sucli  is  the  stupidity  of  her  char- 
acter that  it  is  incumbent  on  her  in  every 
particular  to  distrust  herself,  and  to  obey 
her  husband."  "  We  are  told  that  it  was 
the  custom  of  the  ancients,  on  the  birth  of  a 
female  child,  to  let  it  lie  on  the  floor  for 
the  space  of  three  days.  Even  in  this  may 
be  seen  the  likening  of  the  man  to  heaven, 
and  of  the  woman  to  earth ;  and  the  cus- 
tom should  teach  a  woman  how  necessary  it 
is  for  her  in  everything  to  yield  to  her  hus- 
band the  first,  and  to  be  herself  content  with 
the  second  place." 

The  prevailing  religion  added  its  weight 
to  these  teachings.  According  to  Buddhism, 
women  are  greater  sinners  than  men,  hardly 
knowing  the  difference  between  truth  and 
falsehood.  Only  men  can  enter  Nirvana,  or 
become  Buddhas.  Even  the  merciful  Ami- 
tabha  can  take  women  to  his  paradise  only 
by  first  changing  them  to  men.  "  A  nun  of 
a  hundred  years'  experience  must  bow  rev- 
erently before  every  monk,  even  though  he 
be  ordained  only  on  this  day."  In  this  life, 
woman  must  obey  her  father  in  childhood, 
her  husband  in  wedlock,  her  son  in  her 
widowhood.  Professor  Chamberlain,  writing 
in  1890,  said :  "  At  the  present  moment,  the 


A  GIRL'S  education:  177 

greatest  duchess  or  marchioness  in  the  land 
is  still  her  husband's  drudge.  She  fetches 
and  carries  for  him  ;  bows  down  humbly  in 
the  hall  when  my  lord  sallies  forth ;  w^aits 
upon  him  at  his  meals."  Under  the  old 
regime^  she  could  not  hold  property,  or 
become  the  head  of  the  family  ;  the  latter 
honor  she  often  yielded  to  her  unweaned  son. 
She  must  be  ready  cheerfully  to  receive  her 
husband's  concubine  into  her  house ;  she 
could  be  divorced  for  any  one  of  seven  rea- 
sons, —  really  at  her  husband's  will ;  and 
she  was  often  sold  into  brothels,  by  parents, 
foster-parents,  husband,  or  brother. 

With  such  ideas  prevailing  as  to  woman's 
nature  and  position,  it  goes  without  saying, 
that  but  little  attention  was  given  to  female 
education.  The  common  term  for  education 
—  a  term  not  yet  obsolete  —  excluded  girls. 
It  was  shitei  no  kyoihii^  "  the  education  of 
the  son  and  younger  brother,"  that  is,  of 
the  young  males  of  the  house.  There  were 
''  sewing-schools "  for  girls,  in  which  also 
the  above-mentioned  "  Great  Learning  for 
Women,"  simple  epistolary  writing,  various 
polite  ceremonies,  such  as  arranging  flowers 
and  making  ceremonial  tea,  and  occasionally 
a   little   flower -painting,  music   and  verse- 


178  CHRISTIAN   WOMANHOOD. 

making  were  taught.  Excepting  those  rare 
cases  in  which  the  daughters  of  a  samurai 
house  studied  with  her  brothers  at  home, 
that  was  all  there  was  of  female  education. 
The  woman  might  love  and  serve;  she  was 
not  expected  to  know.  She  accepted  this 
subordinate  position  with  the  utmost  sweet- 
ness and  grace.  She  has  been  content  not 
to  know,  and  to  be  regarded  as  not  knowing. 
Such  being  her  position,  what  has  Christi- 
anity done,  what  is  it  doing,  for  her  ?  First, 
the  position  of  equal  and  companion  to  her 
husband,  publicly  and  privately  accorded  the 
wife  in  the  nearly  two  hundred  missionary 
families,  has  been  a  great  object-lesson. 
That  chivalrous  idea,  born  of  Christianity, 
which  impels  the  husband,  as  the  physically 
stronger,  to  consider  the  wife,  to  anticipate 
her  wants,  to  relieve  her  as  far  as  possible 
from  labor  and  anxiety,  has  been  unknown 
to  the  Japanese.  This  concrete  manifesta- 
tion of  it  is  a  revelation  to  them.  In  its 
presence  the  wife,  who  was  not  only  re- 
garded as  an  inferior,  but,  from  lack  of 
education,  was  not  in  reality  the  equal  and 
companion  of  her  husband,  and  did  not 
want  to  be,  was  stimulated  to  a  new  thirst 
for  knowledge ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  com- 


''SHE   TALKS  LIKE  A  MANr  179 

mon  experiences  of  teachers  In  girls'  schools 
to  have  married  women,  even  those  with 
children,  apply  for  admittance.  At  this 
moment  there  is  a  lady  of  wealth,  formerly 
a  pupil  in  a  mission  school,  who  is  in  this 
country  for  a  year  or  more,  away  from  her 
husband,  away  from  her  young  children, 
that  she  may  learn  more  of  the  wife's  du- 
ties. And  to  the  man  who  saw  the  wife's 
position  in  the  family,  sitting  at  the  same 
table  with  her  husband,  helped  to  food  be- 
fore him,  passing  through  a  door  before 
him,  ready  and  prepared  to  teach  his  classes 
in  his  absence,  reading  the  same  books  and 
periodicals,  etc.,  many  new  thoughts  would 
occur,  and  he  would  be  ready,  not  only  to 
second  his  wife's  efforts  for  improvement, 
but  also  to  accord  to  her  a  hitherto  unknown 
dignity  and  freedom.  Some  of  the  families 
in  which  both  husband  and  wife  have  had 
a  Christian  training  have  in  turn  become 
most  worthy  models  themselves. 

Again,  the  character  of  our  missionary 
ladies  has  made  a  profound  impression. 
Their  intelligence,  their  interest  in  affairs, 
their  independent,  self-sacrificing  lives,  their 
teaching  abilities,  their  executive  powers, 
have  had  an  incalculable  influence.     "  Why, 


180  CHRISTIAN   WOMANHOOD. 

she  talks  like  a  man,"  was  the  comment  of 
a  male  eavesdropper,  at  one  of  the  earliest 
meetings  of  one  of  our  ladies.  As  Miss 
Bacon,  in  her  excellent  book,  "  Japanese 
Girls  and  Women,"  truly  says  of  the  Japa- 
nese woman,  "  She  has  no  career  or  vocation 
open  to  her ;  her  duties  must  always  be 
either  within  the  house,  or  on  the  farm." 
The  thought  of  her  doing  anything  for  her 
sex,  or  for  any  part  of  the  outside  world, 
especially  of  her  uniting  with  other  women 
for  that  purpose,  was  as  foreign  to  her  as 
the  idea  of  color  to  the  blind. 

But  here  were  ladies,  unmarried  as  well 
as  married,  —  hundreds  of  them,  — leaving 
home  and  kindred  and  country  to  teach  and 
help  their  sisters  of  another  race  and  nation. 
How  insensibly  and  powerfully  this  fact 
has  wrought  upon  their  ideals  of  woman- 
hood !  In  the  hearts  of  how  many  girls  has 
it  awakened  high  and  holy  ambition  ! 

In  the  spring  of  1887,  in  an  inland  city, 
four  girls,  the  daughters  of  samurai  parents, 
bound  themselves  together  by  an  oath  to  use 
all  possible  means  to  induce  their  parents 
to  allow  them  to  attend  a  mission  school 
for  girls,  and,  in  the  event  of  failure,  to 
commit    suicide.     In    this    covenant,   these 


A  COVENANT  KEPT.  181 

children  of  fifteen  years  showed  the  very 
spirit  of  their  class.  Two  of  them,  in  the 
bitterness  of  disappointment,  put  an  end  to 
their  lives.  A  third,  for  whom  a  marriage 
had  been  arranged,  confided  her  purpose  of 
suicide  to  her  uncle,  a  Christian  physician, 
who  gently  led  her  to  the  Saviour.  She 
gave  up  her  suicidal  intent,  acceded  to  the 
demands  of  her  parents  that  she  marry  the 
husband  provided  for  her,  and,  although  cut 
off  from  intercourse  with  Christians,  was, 
at  the  last  reports,  a  faithful  follower  of 
Christ.  The  fourth  one  alone,  by  the  Chris- 
tian doctor's  entreaties,  was  permitted  to 
carry  out  her  purpose  of  securing  an  educa- 
tion and  becoming  a  teacher. 

Moved  by  the  same  ambition,  how  many 
have  consecrated  themselves  to  the  task  of 
enlightening  and  elevating  their  sex  ?  The 
hundreds  who  are  studying  and  the  scores 
who  are  teaching  in  our  girls'  schools  to- 
day give  answer.  From  earnest  students  in 
Mt.  Holyoke,  Wellesley,  Bryn  Mawr,  and 
similar  institutions,  who  received  their  first 
inspiration  in  mission  schools,  comes  the 
same  reply.  These  glowing  hearts  and 
trained  minds  are  among  the  brightest  tro- 
phies of  mission  work  in  Japan. 


182  CHRISTIAN   WOMANHOOD. 

Once  more :  the  good  done  by  direct  in- 
struction in  mission  schools,  in  families,  as 
evangelists,  and  as  advisers  to  the  churches, 
has  been  very  great.  In  1890  the  number 
of  these  schools  for  girls  was  fifty-one,  their 
pupils  aggregating  4,249.  These  include 
not  only  the  ordinary  schools  for  girls,  but 
also  special  schools  in  which  older  women 
are  trained  as  nurses  for  the  sick,  kinder- 
gartners,  and  evangelists ;  and  their  good 
results  are  greatly  enhanced  by  the  way  in 
which  the  ladies  follow  and  assist  their  pu- 
pils after  they  leave  the  schools. 

A  few  of  these  schools  have  been  in  opera- 
tion for  twenty  years,  a  large  proportion  of 
them  for  ten  years.  A  simple  arithmetical 
process  will  indicate  the  number  of  girls 
who  have  thus  been  influenced,  the  number 
of  homes  that  have  been  reached.  These 
schools  have  been  criticised,  and,  with  so 
much  that  was  new  and  untried  to  the  teach- 
ers, it  would  have  been  a  miracle  if  they  had 
been  beyond  criticism.  When  such  great 
changes  were  being  effected,  it  was  inevitable 
that  the  faultless  and  lifeless  symmetry  of 
the  past  should  be  disturbed,  and  that  to 
the  conservative  Japanese  the  girls  should 
seem  brusque,   conceited,   forward.     These 


THE    WORTH   OF    WOMEN.  183 

are  failings  which  the  rising  generation  of 
the  other  sex  has  not  wholly  escaped. 
They  are  defects  which  time  will  do  much 
to  remedy,  and  which  affect  in  no  way  the 
solid  good  accomplished.  It  should  be  re- 
marked in  passing,  that  the  schools  for  girls 
established  by  the  government  in  recent 
years  have  been  even  more  severely  criti- 
cised by  the  Japanese  newspapers  than  have 
the  mission  schools.  But  that  most  faith- 
ful and  effective  work  has  been  done  in 
these  government  schools  is  beyond  question. 
The  personal  Christian  influence  of  Mrs. 
Straight,  Miss  Bacon,  the  Misses  Pierce, 
and  other  ladies  employed  in  these  schools, 
it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  recognize. 

Finally,  we  must  note  the  influence  —  im- 
plicit in  all  those  previously  named  —  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  worth  of  woman  as 
the  immortal  child  of  God,  and  a  member 
of  that  church  in  which  there  can  be  neither 
Jew  nor  Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  nor  fe- 
male. This  is  the  thought  which  impels  for- 
ward the  Christians  —  native  and  foreign  — 
who  are  laboring  for  female  education  in 
Japan.  This  gives  them  high  vantage- 
ground,  not  only  over  those  who  are  indif- 
ferent or  opposed  to  female  education,  but 


184  CHRISTIAN    WOMANHOOD. 

also  over  those  who  favor  it  simply  on  the 
ground  that  educated  men  need  educated 
wives.  This  is  the  motive  power  of  the 
Christians  who  more  than  all  others  are  la- 
boring, on  the  platform  and  in  legislative 
halls,  to  abolish  those  social  customs  which 
degrade  and  defile  woman.  Christianity,  by 
thus  giving  woman  a  greater  sense  of  her 
own  powers,  by  im23arting  to  her  the  fructi- 
fying truths  of  the  Bible,  and  by  imbuing 
her  with  a  nobler  purpose,  has  already 
proved  itself  to  thousands  of  Japanese  wo- 
men a  life-giving  power.  Go  into  any  mis- 
cellaneous assembly  of  Japanese  women,  and 
you  will  find  it  an  easy  task  to  pick  out  the 
Christians  by  their  brighter,  more  thought- 
ful, more  purposeful  faces.  In  the  presence 
of  these  noble  and  gracious  Christian  ladies, 
the  Japanese  women  represented  by  Sir  Ed- 
win Arnold's  sensuous  pen  are  as  inferior  as 
they  ought  to  be  offensive. 

Much  of  our  most  productive  evangelistic 
work  is  done  by  our  lady  missionaries.  They 
enter  the  houses  with  a  freedom  which  is  de- 
nied to  men,  and  in  individual  work  possess 
a  tact,  if  not  a  devotion,  which  male  mission- 
aries do  not  always  show.  Not  over  their 
own  sex  alone,  but  over  men  also,  —  men  of 


SELF-SACRIFICE.  185 

wealth  and  position,  merchants,  physicians, 
judges,  and  others,  as  well  as  over  the  more 
lowly,  —  has  their  influence  been  potent. 
Some  of  these  are  the  most  valued  advisers 
and  helpers  of  the  Japanese  churches  and 
pastors.  As  illustrating  this,  the  following 
incident,  hitherto  unknown  beyond  a  very 
narrow  circle,  may  be  given.  A  certain 
church  was  deeply  in  debt  for  its  building. 
Plans  made  for  the  liquidation  of  the  debt 
failed,  and  the  church,  burdened  and  dis- 
heartened, went  to  one  of  our  young  ladies. 
After  a  long  consultation,  she  told  them  that 
she  could  see  only  one  way  of  escaj^e,  and 
that  was  by  their  going  home  and  sacrifi- 
cing, not  something  which  they  lightly  val- 
ued, but  some  one  thing  that  they  prized 
more  than  other  things.  When  they  had 
gone,  realizing  the  demands  which  she  had 
made  ujDon  them,  she  asked  herself,  "  Am  I 
willing  to  take  to  myself  the  advice  I  have 
given  them?  What  do  I  specially  value 
that  I  am  willino^  to  make  an  offerino^  of  ?  " 
She  was  an  ardent  lover  of  music,  and  the 
question  came,  "  Can  I  give  up  my  piano?  " 
The  result  was  the  sale  of  the  piano,  and 
the  speedy  lifting  of  the  debt  by  their  united 
self-sacrifice. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CHRISTIAN    LITEEATURE. 

Christians  are  to  be  followers  of  Christ, 
and  even  in  methods  of  work  they  can  often 
do  best  by  closely  following-  in  his  footsteps. 
But  we  should  seek  to  live  by  the  principles 
which  governed  his  life,  and  to  adapt  them 
to  our  greatly  different  circumstances,  rather 
than  to  make  his  words  and  deeds  a  pattern 
to  be  exactly  and  slavishly  copied.  That 
the  church  has  ever  so  regarded  Christian 
discipleship  finds  an  excellent  illustration  in 
the  use  which  it  makes  and  ever  has  made 
of  literature. 

Our  Lord  wrote  nothing  himself,  and  there 
is  no  record  of  a  command  to  his  disciples 
to  write  ;  yet  from  the  days  of  Paul's  first 
letters  the  written  or  printed  page  has  stood 
next  in  power  to  the  living  voice.  The  mod- 
ern missionary  is  not  behind  others  in  the 
value  which  he  places  upon  Christian  liter- 
ature. In  a  country  with  a  government 
hostile  to  Christianity  as  Japan  was  down 


DOUBLE-POINTED  PENS.  187 

to  less  than  twenty  years  ago,  literature  plays 
a  peculiarly  important  part.  A  book  can 
go  where  a  missionary  cannot.  Ease  of 
concealment  makes  its  reception  possible  by 
those  who  would  not  dare  to  harbor  a  mis- 
sionary.    It  can  speak  where  he  is  voiceless. 

Nor  did  the  special  need  of  a  Christian 
literature  pass  away  with  the  hostility  of  the 
government.  As  elsewhere  pointed  out,  re- 
strictions as  to  residence  and  travel  by  all 
foreigners  still  exist,  while  the  book,  news- 
paper, and  magazine  have  free  course.  The 
author  of  a  tract  speaks  through  it  to  thou- 
sands whom  he  may  never  see. 

That  classical  Chinese  is  easily  read  by 
Japanese  scholars  is  a  fortunate  fact,  which 
the  early  missionaries  in  Japan  made  wise 
use  of.  The  missionaries  in  China  had  al- 
ready created  a  considerable  literature,  and 
this  was  freely  drawn  upon  for  use  in  Japan. 
"  The  faithful  authors  of  this  literature  were 
little  aware  that,  while  working  for  the  sal- 
vation of  China,  they  had  been,  as  it  were, 
writing  with  a  double-pointed  pen  and  work- 
ing for  Japan  as  well.  They  had  unwit- 
tingly been  doing  a  work  which,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  was  to  be  twice  blessed. 
The  sale  of  these  books  was  very  suitable 


188  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 

employment  for  beginners,  since  it  could  be 
clone  without  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the 
language.  At  Nagasaki,  on  one  occasion,  a 
shipment  of  four  large  cases  of  these  books 
was  purchased  and  paid  for  in  bulk  as  it 
arrived." 

The  Bible  and  many  tracts  in  the  Chinese 
language  were  thus  circulated  long  before 
any  translations  into  Japanese  were  made. 
The  influence  of  these  books  was  immense. 
As  is  well  known,  it  was  one  or  two  small 
volumes  of  this  Chinese  literature  which 
filled  a  young  man  with  an  unquenchable 
desire  to  visit  America,  and  thus  gave  to  the 
world  that  apostle  of  Japan,  Joseph  Hardy 
Neesima.  One  of  the  most  useful  of  these 
books  was  the  Tendo  Sogen  ("  Evidences  of 
Christianity"),  by  Rev.  Dr.  Martin,  now  head 
of  the  Imperial  College  at  Peking,  but  at 
the  time  of  its  preparation  actively  engaged 
in  missionary  work.  Its  author,  possessing 
a  profound  acquaintance  with  the  thought  of 
China,  and  so  of  the  thought  of  Japan 
which  was  a  development  of  it,  presented 
Christianity  in  a  light  which  made  it  almost 
irresistible.  An  ilhistration  of  the  power  of 
this  book  may  be  of  interest.  In  the  spring 
of  1875,  one  of  our  number  spent  a  month 


TENDO  SOGEN,  189 

in  Kyoto.  While  here  he  met  the  blind 
Yamamoto  elsewhere  referred  to  as  joint 
founder  with  Neesima  of  the  Doshisha,  and 
still  one  of  its  most  influential  trustees. 
Mr.  Neesima,  who  visited  the  city  a  little 
later,  thus  writes  :  — 

"  Dr. was  at  the  same  time  in  Kyoto 

for  his  health,  and  made  himself  acquainted 
with  Yamamoto,  the  adviser  of  the  vice- 
governor.  I  suppose  he  did  not  say  much 
to  him  about  Christianity,  but  gave  him 
simply  a  copy  of  Tendo  Sogen.  It  is  a 
most  interesting  and  convincing  work.  It 
has  done  more  in  Japan  in  converting  men 
than  the  Bible  itself,  for  they  find  the  Bible 
very  difficult  to  understand,  and  often  stum- 
ble at  some  biblical  statements,  not  being 
able  to  see  their  real  meaning.  Teiido  So- 
gen is  just  the  thing  to  meet  and  challenge 
our  educated  and  sceptical  minds  to  pay 
attention  to  gospel  truth  and  seek  for  life 
and  light. 

"Dr. hit  the  right  point  by  giving 

this  convincing  work  on  Christianity  to  one 
of  our  best-educated  thinkers.  I  must  tell 
you  more  of  this  interesting  man.  He  is 
kept  by  the  Kyoto  government  as  a  guest 
and  adviser.     He  is  unable  to  walk,  and  is 


190  CHRISTIAX  LITERATURE. 

blind  also,  but  liis  mind  is  clear  and  sharp. 
AYhen  I  called  on  hiiu,  some  time  after  he 

received  the  work  from  Dr. ,  he  told  me 

that  it  was  an  excellent  book.  '  It  has  done 
me  great  good,'  he  said.  'It  has  cleared 
away  my  doubts  in  regard  to  Christianity, 
and  has  also  solved  a  hard  problem  that  I 
have  kept  in  mind  for  many  years.  In  my 
younger  days  I  thought  I  must  render  to 
my  country  some  service,  and  so  I  devoted 
myself  to  military  tactics  :  but  afterwards  I 
found  that  that  was  not  enou2:h  to  do  a  real 
service  to  the  country  ;  so  I  gave  myself  to 
jurisprudence,  hoping  that  through  my  effort 
the  people  might  be  more  justly  treated. 
But  after  careful  observation  I  found  there 
was  a  certain  limit  to  jurisprudence.  The 
law  could  say  that  the  people  must  not  come 
beyond  such  a  limit,  but  they  could  not  be 
kept  up  unless  there  were  severe  restriction. 
As  soon  as  the  restriction  is  removed,  the 
people  go  beyond  the  limit.  They  do  steal, 
lie,  murder,  etc.,  whenever  they  can.  The 
law  could  not  prevent  their  thinking  evil  in 
their  hearts.  The  law  could  condemn  or 
justify  their  outward  but  not  their  inward 
actions. 

" '  Now  I  rejoice  that  I  have  found  the 


A  PROBLEM  SOLVED.  191 

means  to  solve  my  hard  problem.  Christian- 
ity alone  can  reach  and  renovate  the  very 
spring  of  the  human  heart.  The  day  has 
dawned  upon  me,  so  that  I  can  see  the  path 
which  was  utterly  unknown  to  me,  and  for 
which  I  have  been  unconsciously  seeking. '  " 

Later,  several  translations  of  this  book 
into  the  language  of  the  common  people 
were  made.  One  of  them  was  by  Naka- 
mura  Masanao,  one  of  Japan's  most  famous 
scholars.  When  Viscount  Arinori  Mori  went 
as  ambassador  to  China  he  carried  a  copy  of 
this  translation  as  a  present  to  the  author 
from  the  translator .^ 

Among  the  many  other  useful  books  thus 
introduced  from  China,  Dr.  Williamson's 
"  Natural  Theology,"  and  Rev.  Ernest  Fa- 
ber's  "Commentaries  on  the  Gospels,"  and 
his  discussions  of  Confucianism,  deserve 
special  mention. 

But,  valuable  as  this  Chinese  literature 
was  for  Japanese  scholars,  it  was  as  a  sealed 
book  to  the  great  body  of  the  people. 
Hence  the  creation  of  a  Jaj)anese  Christian 

1  Dr.  Martin  has  told  me  that  when  Viscount  Mori  spoke 
of  this  at  a  banquet  in  Peking-,  he  (Dr.  M.)  suddenly- 
asked  him  if  he  were  a  Christian.  The  viscount  gave 
the  characteristic  reply :  "  I  endeavor  to  live  so  that  men 
may  think  I  am  a  Christian." 


192  CHRIST  J  AN  LITERATURE. 

literature  has  been  from  the  earliest  times  a 
constant  purpose.  Owing  to  the  difficulties 
of  the  language,  and  especially  of  the  Chi- 
nese characters,  missionaries  employ  Japa- 
nese writers,  and  do  not  attempt  writing  their 
books  themselv^es.  Japanese  authors  even 
often  employ  professional  writers.  Some  mis- 
sionaries write  out  their  thoughts  in  English, 
and  have  them  translated.  A  more  common 
way  has  been  to  talk  one's  thoughts  into  a 
Japanese  writer,  much  as  one  might  into 
a  phonograph,  and  let  him  put  them  in  liter- 
ary form.  The  process  differs  from  the  use 
of  a  phonograph  in  that,  instead  of  coming 
out  exactly  as  it  went  in,  the  easy  and  free 
colloquial  is  transformed  into  stiff  and  stilted 
written  language.  The  author  finds  his 
thoughts  clothed  In  words  he  never  heard  of 
before,  and  he  is  incredulous  when  told  that 
they  have  the  same  meaning  as  those  he  had 
used.  Then  there  is  pretty  sure  to  follow  a 
struggle  between  the  author,  who  pleads 
strongly,  perhaps  unduly  so,  for  a  simple 
form  of  the  written  language,  and  the  writer, 
who  is  unwilling  to  endanger  his  literary  rep- 
utation by  writing  a  book  that  everybody 
can  read.  He  says,  and  says  truly,  that  his 
intelligent  fellow-countrymen  will  refuse  to 


A   FINE  SERMON.  193 

read  a  book  which  gives  no  evidence  of  Chi- 
nese scholarship.  And  so  the  missionary 
author  attempts  to  steer  his  untried  craft  so 
as  to  avoid  the  Scylla  of  iLamhun  —  high 
Chinese  which  nobody  can  read  —  and  the 
Charybdis  of  Kanabumi  —  easy,  colloquial 
writing  which  no  one  will  read.  Some  books 
have  the  two  styles  side  by  side  ;  others  are 
mixtures  of  the  two  in  varying  proportions. 
This  affectation  of  the  Chinese  lano^uas^e  has 
been  and  still  is  a  great  obstacle  to  the  dif- 
fusion of  Christianity,  and,  indeed,  of  all 
knowledge.  A  servant  girl,  who  had  just  re- 
turned from  a  meeting  where  one  of  our 
most  scholarly  Japanese  had  preached,  was 
dilating  upon  the  excellence  of  the  sermon. 
"What  was  the  sermon  about?"  asked  her 
mistress.  "  Oh,"  she  replied,  "  I  have  no 
idea  what  it  was  about ;  it  is  not  for  the  like 
of  me  to  understand  so  fine  a  sermon  as 
that ! "  One  of  our  most  scholarly  mission- 
aries says,  that  in  preaching  to  a  new  audi- 
ence he  usually  gives  a  few  Chinese  sen- 
tences near  the  beginning  of  a  sermon,  to 
show  his  educated  hearers  what  he  can  do, 
and  then  for  the  remainder  of  the  sermon 
uses  easy  language  that  every  one  can 
understand. 


194  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 

Our  earliest  books  and  tracts  were  printed, 
not  from  movable  types,  but  from  wooden 
blocks.  The  author's  written  page  was 
pasted  on  a  wooden  block,  three  fourths  of 
an  inch  thick,  and  in  area  equal  to  the  page. 
The  carver  then  cut  away  the  surface  of 
the  blocks,  leaving  the  writing  untouched. 
Sheets  of  paper  were  then  rubbed  by  hand 
upon  these  blocks.  The  printed  page  was 
thus  ^fac  simile  of  the  author's  autograph. 

There  is  no  space  to  speak  of  the  myriads 
of  tracts  which  have  been  prepared  and 
scattered  up  and  down  the  empire.  Some 
of  these  are  adaptations  of  Chinese  tracts  ; 
others  are  translations  of  tracts  in  Eng- 
lish ;  others  still,  original  productions  of 
missionaries.  Some  of  the  very  best  and 
most  useful  were  prepared  by  our  Japanese 
ministers,  nearly  all  of  whom  have  tried 
their  hands  at  books,  or  tracts.  Among  the 
most  widely  distributed  and  useful  tracts, 
Dr.  Davis's  Chiha  Michi  (Near  Way), 
Rev.  K.  Ibuka's  Jesii  Kyo  Mondo  (Dia- 
logue about  Christianity),  and  Rev.  P. 
Kanamori's  '^  Three  Great  Doctrines,"  de- 
serve mention.  As  a  writer  of  easy  but 
acceptable  books  for  the  young,  the  Rev.  N. 
Tamura  stands  preeminent.    A  more  learned 


PERIODICALS.  195 

and  more  difficult  grade  introduces  us  to  the 
works  of  Messrs.  Kozaki,  Yokoi,  Uemura, 
and  others. 

A  partial  list  of  publications  is  given  in 
Appendix  C. 

In  accordance  with  what  has  already  been 
said,  where  the  name  of  a  missionary  is  given 
it  is  often  understood  that  he  has  had  Japa- 
nese to  assist  him. 

The  American  Tract  Society  and  the 
London  Religious  Tract  Society  have  been 
the  ready  and  efficient  assistants  of  the  mis- 
sions in  the  publication  of  books  and  tracts. 

The  influence  of  periodical  literature  has 
been  great.  It  began  with  the  Shichi-IcJii 
Za])j)o  ("  Weekly  Messenger  "),  started  by 
the  American  Board's  Mission  in  1876,  and 
edited  by  Rev.  O.  H.  Gulick.  The  Kiti- 
siito  Kyo  Shimhun,  of  T5kyo,  is  its  succes- 
sor. For  a  long  time  it  had  the  field  en- 
tirely to  itself,  but  now  all  the  leading 
denominations  have  their  organs.  The  first 
paper  for  children,  "  Good  Tidings,"  edited 
by  Mrs.  E.  R.  Miller,  and  published  by  the 
aid  of  the  Foreign  Sunday-school  Society, 
is  stiU  pursuing  a  successful  career. 

The  first  Christian  magazine  was  the 
Rihugo  Zasshi  ("  The  Cosmos  "),  edited  and 


196  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 

published  by  Kev.  H.  Kozaki,  who  ungrudg- 
ingly gave  to  it  his  time,  strength,  and 
means.  He  has  had  his  reward  in  its  wide  in- 
fluence, and  in  its  present  satisfactory  finan- 
cial condition.  Other  able  writers  like  M. 
Uemura  and  G.  Takahashi  in  the  early  days 
warmly  supported  Mr.  Kozaki  in  the  con- 
duct of  this  magazine,  and  have  since  em- 
ployed their  practiced  pens  in  other  useful 
channels.  The  editors  of  the  influential 
Jogdku  ZassM  ("  Magazine  of  Female  Edu- 
cation ")  and  Keizai  Zasshi  ("Journal  of 
Political  Economy")  are  Christians.  Both 
the  editor  and  publisher  of  the  most  popular 
magazine  in  Japan,  "  The  Nation's  Friend," 
and  the  daily  newspaper  since  associated 
with  it,  are  disciples  of  Dr.  Neesima,  and 
trustees  of  the  Doshisha  University ;  and 
those  periodicals  are  more  or  less  pervaded 
by  Christian  sentiments. 

The  progress  in  the  production  of  a  hym- 
nology,  if  slow,  has  been  substantial.  The 
Japanese,  from  our  point  of  view,  are  not  a 
musical  people,  as  might  be  inferred  from 
Miss  Bacon's  remark  that  "  it  is  fortunate 
that  the  musical  art  in  Japan  is  limited  to 
women,  priests,  and  blind  men."  A  hymn- 
book  including  two  hundred  and  sixty-three 


TRANSLATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.      197 

numbers,  a  large  proportion  of  which  are 
translations  of  our  standard  hymns,  was 
published  in  1890.  The  tunes  set  to  these 
hymns  were  printed  in  Japan.  There  are 
a  few  adaptations  of  Japanese  music  ;  the 
remaininof  tunes  are  those  heard  in  the 
churches  of  the  United  States.  The  hymns 
are  largely  the  work  of  Messrs.  Okuno, 
Uemura,  Matsuyama,  and  Yerbeck.  The 
onerous  task  of  preparing  and  publishing 
the  music  was  performed  by  the  competent 
hands  of  Rev.  George  Allchin. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  occupied  the 
early  attention  of  the  missionaries.  The 
New  Testament  was  translated  by  a  commit- 
tee organized  in  1872.  The  most  prominent 
and  permanent  members  of  this  committee 
were  J.  C.  Hepburn,  M.  D.,  Eev.  S.  R. 
Brown,  D.  D.,  Rev.  D.  C.  Greene,  D.  D., 
and  Rev.  Messrs.  Okuno  and  Matsuyama. 
As  may  be  inferred  from  preceding  pages 
of  this  chapter,  their  task  was  a  delicate  and 
difficult  one.  That  they  performed  it  suc- 
cessfully, avoiding  both  extremes  of  stiffness 
and  freedom,  is  clear  from  the  fact  that  fif- 
teen years  of  progress  in  Christian  know- 
ledge and  experience  has  created  no  demand 
for  its  revision.     It  also  gave  direction  to 


198  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 

the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
is  the  work  of  a  larger  circle  of  scholars. 
The  Japanese  Bible  is  already  exerting 
something  of  the  same  influence  over  the 
Japanese  language  which  Luther's  version 
has  had  over  the  German  tongue. 

In  the  publication  and  circulation  of  the 
Bible,  the  American  Bible  Society  gave  its 
valuable  aid  almost  from  the  very  start. 
Later,  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
and  the  National  Bible  Society  of  Scotland 
have  shared  in  this  work. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DENOMINATIONALISM   AND   MISSIONS. 

The  unique  condition  of  Japan  during 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century  has  made  it  a 
most  attractive  field  to  the  various  branches 
of  the  church.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the 
world  has  ever  seen  or  ever  will  see  a  more 
striking  exhibition  of  the  absurdities  of 
Christian  denominationalism ;  more  than 
thirty  different  missionary  societies,  all 
bearing  the  name  of  Christ,  but  each  with 
something  peculiar  in  its  character,  its  his- 
tory, or  its  methods,  working  in  one  small 
country,  the  majority  of  them  in  a  single 
city  !  Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  Japanese 
are  puzzled,  and  ask,  "  Are  there  thirty 
Christs  ?  "  or,  "  Is  only  one  of  the  thirty  the 
true  Christ  ?  "  Or  that  they  reply  to  our 
exhortations,  "I  will  first  study  all,  and 
afterward  decide  which  Christ  I  will  follow." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  unsympathetic 
foreign  residents  in  the  East  regard  mis- 
sionaries as  engaged  in  a  general  game  of 


200  DENOMINATIONALISM. 

grab,  quite  as  ready  to  receive  converts  from 
each  other's  ranks  as  from  the  unchristian 
world  about  them  ?  Such  a  view  is,  how- 
ever, very  far  from  the  truth.  It  may  be 
questioned  whether  so  many  distinct  bodies, 
engaged  in  the  same  occupation,  ever  before 
worked  together  so  harmoniously  as  do  these 
missions.  Of  course  there  have  been  cases 
of  misunderstanding,  because  there  as  every- 
where men  see  different  sides  of  the  same 
shield;  and  the  adjustment  of  the  relations 
of  the  different  missions,  in  some  instances, 
has  not  been  free  from  friction.  Of  course, 
also,  there  are  sects  which  there  as  elsewhere 
are  largely  parasitic  in  their  manner  of  life. 
But  taking  it  all  in  all,  the  spirit  shown  has 
been  admirable. 

At  the  very  time  of  the  writer's  arrival 
in  1872,  when  there  was  only  one  church, 
and  that  but  a  few  months  old,  the  missiona- 
ries of  all  denominations  working  in  the  land 
(with  perhaps  one  exception)  had  met  in 
convention,  and  were  harmoniously  planning 
for  the  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  the  or- 
ganization of  native  churches. 

The  result  was,  first,  the  early  and  excel- 
lent translation  of  the  New  Testament,  re- 
ferred  to   at   the    close   of    the   preceding 


CHURCHES  OF  CHRIST.  201 

chapter.  In  regard  to  the  organization  of 
churches,  the  following  preamble  and  resolu- 
tion were  unanimously  adopted  :  — 

"  Whereas  the  church  of  Christ  is  one  in 
Him,  and  the  diversities  of  denominations 
among  Protestants  are  but  accidents  which, 
though  not  affecting  the  vital  unity  of  be- 
lievers, do  obscure  the  oneness  of  the  church 
in  Christendom,  and  much  more  in  pagan 
lands,  where  the  history  of  the  divisions 
cannot  be  understood,  we,  as  Protestant 
missionaries,  desire  to  secure  uniformity  in 
our  modes  and  methods  of  evangelization, 
so  as  to  avoid  as  far  as  possible  the  evil 
arising  from  marked  differences.  We  there- 
fore take  this  earliest  opportunity  offered 
by  this  convention  to  agree  that  we  will  use 
our  influence  to  secure,  as  far  as  possible, 
identity  of  name  and  organization  in  the 
native  churches,  in  the  formation  of  which 
we  may  be  called  to  assist,  that  name  being 
as  catholic  as  the  church  of  Christ;  and  the 
organization  being  that  wherein  the  govern- 
ment of  each  church  shall  be  by  the  ministry 
and  eldership  of  the  same,  with  the  concur- 
rence of  the  brethren." 

This  plan  for  forming  simple  churches  of 
Christ  failed  at  the  time,  largely  —  must  it 


202  DEN03II  NATIONALISM. 

be  confessed  ?  —  because  some  people  at 
home  could  n't  count  converts  so  easily ;  but 
the  good  spirit  of  the  convention  has  fol- 
lowed these  missions  down  to  the  present 
time.  Great  courtesy  and  consideration  have 
alwaj^s  been  the  rule  in  the  treatment  of 
each  other.  Local  inter-denominational  con- 
ferences, union  prayer-meetings,  have  been 
regularly  maintained,  and  union  of  effort 
in  evangelistic  services  frequent.  One  gen- 
eral conference  was  held  in  1883,  in  which 
more  than  one  hundred  missionaries,  repre- 
senting twenty-two  different  societies,  united 
in  discussing  various  features  of  missionary 
work.  This  conference  was  attended  by  a 
harmony  and  cordiality  which  greatly  sur- 
prised our  Japanese  friends,  and  was  indeed 
a  surprise  and  gratification  to  ourselves. 

While  general  organic  union  has  not  been 
attained,  important  steps  in  that  direction 
have  been  taken.  The  results  of  the  labors 
of  three  Baptist  missions  will  form  but  one 
Baptist  church.  A  similar  union  has  been 
effected  by  the  two  English  and  one  Amer- 
ican Episcopal  missions.  Six  Presbyterian 
missions  have  united  in  forming  one  church, 
which  has  dropped  the  name  Presbyterian 
and  gone  back  to  the  "  Japanese  Church  of 


A  DISASTROUS  FAILURE.  203 

Christ."  It  has  also  displaced  the  West- 
minster and  Heidelberg  confessions  by  one 
at  once  simple  and  orthodox.  Beginning 
about  1886,  there  was  for  several  years  a 
strong  movement  for  organic  union  between 
this  body  and  the  ICmni-ai  Kyokai^  the  two 
largest  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  the  empire. 
Its  failure  was  regarded  by  most  of  the  mis- 
sionaries and  «Japanese  leaders  as  a  great 
calamity,  not  to  say  sin.  It  costs  the  Chris- 
tians of  America  thousands  of  dollars  annu- 
ally ;  the  spiritual  losses  are  immeasurable. 

There  has  been  talk  of  a  Japanese  na- 
tional church  freed  of  all  connections  with 
foreign  lands.  Some  have  feared  this,  others 
prayed  for  it.  If  wisely  brought  about,  it 
would  be  a  great  blessing.  The  hopes  for  it 
are  not  now  so  great  as  formerly.  The 
Japanese  Christians  are  apparently  not  so 
favorable  to  it  either  as  they  formerly  were, 
or  as  the  missionaries  now  are.  Desire  for 
union  is  strongest  either  in  the  newly  con- 
verted or  in  the  mature  Christian.  An  in- 
termediate stage  of  experience  is  the  best 
soil  for  the  growth  of  the  denominational 
spirit. 

As  illustrating  the  mutual  disposition  of 
even  those  bodies  which  have  scarcely  any 


204  DENOMINATIONALISM. 

hope  of  uniting  organically,  I  give  the  fol- 
lowing minute  adopted  by  all  the  missiona- 
ries working  in  Central  Japan,  December  16, 
1890:  — 

"  The  Protestant  missionaries  connected 
with  the  Missionary  Association  of  Central 
Japan,  whilst  frankly  acknowledging  the  dif- 
ferences which  separate  them,  heartily  recog- 
nize each  other  as  loyal  servants  of  the  same 
Master,  as  true  members  of  the  one  body  of 
Christ,  and  as  faithful  allies  In  the  common 
work  of  Christianizing  this  empire.  They 
desire  to  thank  God  for  the  rapid  growth 
and  development  of  the  church  ;  for  the  in- 
crease of  foreign  missionary  laborers  and 
native  pastors  and  evangelists,  and  for  the 
extension  of  aggressive  evangelistic  effort 
throughout  the  country ;  and  in  view  of  this 
they  deem  it  Important  to  place  on  record 
for  their  own  guidance,  and  for  the  conside- 
ration of  their  Japanese  brethren  and  other 
fellow-workers,  certain  principles  of  mission 
comity  which.  If  acted  upon,  will,  they  be- 
lieve, prevent  friction,  promote  economy  and 
efficiency,  and  tend  to  further  unity,  peace, 
and  love  amongst  Christians  generally.  They 
agree  as  follows  :  — 

"  1.  That  in  every  department  of  work  — 


COMITY.  205 

evangelistic,  pastoral,  and  educational  — 
Christ  should  be  so  supremely  exalted  as 
the  light  of  the  world  and  the  Saviour  of 
men,  the  head  of  his  church  and  the  life  of 
his  people,  as  to  make  it  impossible  unduly  to 
magnify  or  emphasize  the  differences  which 
separate  Christians,  to  the  injury  of  spiritual 
life  in  the  church  and  the  work  of  the  Lord's 
kingdom  in  the  world,  and  that  even  when 
it  is  necessary  to  teach  distinctive  principles 
it  should  be  done  with  a  scrupulous  regard 
for  the  views  held  and  taught  by  others. 

"  2.  That  even  when  a  city  is  occupied  by 
the  missionaries  of  one  society  or  church, 
such  considerations  as  its  size  and  impor- 
tance, its  position  as  the  centre  of  a  district, 
the  advantages  it  affords  as  a  place  of  re- 
sidence for  foreigners,  and  relations  to  church 
members  resident  in  it,  may  justify  its  occu- 
pation by  other  missions  ;  and  that,  when 
this  is  decided  on,  the  members  of  the  new 
missions  should  be  cordially  welcomed  as 
friends  and  allies ;  though,  with  a  view  to 
establishing  a  good  mutual  understanding 
from  the  first,  the  mission  or  missions  al- 
ready in  occupation  should  be  communicated 
with,  as  a  matter  of  Christian  courtesy,  and 
their  reasonable  wishes  respected. 


206  DENOMINATIONALISM. 

"  3.  That  even  where  there  is  no  evange- 
listic agent  in  residence,  when  regular  public 
services  are  held  on  the  Lord's  day,  it  should 
be  regarded  as  occupied,  and  that  in  all  such 
cases  where  the  pojDulation  is  less  than  five 
thousand  it  is  undesirable  for  a  second  mis- 
sion or  church  to  enter,  unless  for  very- 
urgent  reasons,  as  being  inconsistent  with 
economy  in  the  distribution  of  missionary 
forces  for  the  speedy  evangelization  of  the 
country. 

"  4.  That  when  the  same  towns,  cities,  or 
districts  are  occupied  by  different  missions 
or  churches,  every  effort  should  be  made  to 
locate  their  centres  of  work  so  as  to  reach  as 
far  as  possible  different  circles  of  hearers. 

"5.  That  where  work  is  carried  on  side 
by  side,  no  attempts  should  be  made  directly 
or  indirectly  to  induce  Christians  or  Chris- 
tian workers  connected  with  one  body  to  join 
another,  or  to  influence  catechumens  under 
instruction  in  connection  with  one  church  or 
mission  to  receive  baptism  in  another ;  and 
that  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  not  to 
receive  from  another  church  a  member  in 
good  standing  without  the  usual  commenda- 
tory letter,  or  a  certificate  of  Christian  char- 
acter, or  to  recognize  those  under  discipline 


MUTUAL    CONFIDENCE.  207 

in  auotlier  church  without  the  fullest  investi- 
gation, nor  until  after  direct  communication 
with  the  pastor  or  other  responsible  parties 
concerned. 

"  6.  That  W'hile  it  is  unnecessary  to  in- 
terfere with  the  freedom  of  jiarents  in  taking 
their  sons  and  daughters  from  one  school  or 
college  to  place  them  in  another,  no  scholar- 
ship should  be  given  or  other  payment  made 
to  or  in  respect  of  students  and  pupils  ad- 
mitted from  another  missionary  college  or 
school,  unless,  after  conference,  for  special 
reasons  it  is  mutually  agreed  to  be  desirable. 

"  7.  That  it  would  often  prevent  difficul- 
ties in  special  cases  if  the  parties  concerned 
would  refer  their  differences  to  the  decision 
of  brethren  in  whom  they  have  mutual  con- 
fidence. 

"  8.  That  as  the  location  of  Japanese 
workers  and  the  supervision  of  pastoral  and 
evangelistic  w^ork  will  more  and  more  pass 
into  Japanese  hands,  every  effort  should  be 
made  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  principles 
laid  down  in  this  minute  by  the  several 
Japanese  churches  and  missionary  commit- 
tees. 

"  In  adopting  these  general  principles  and 
recommendino^  them  to  the  careful  consider- 


208  DENOMINATIONALISM. 

ation  of  all  engaged  in  pastoral  and  evan- 
gelistic work  in  this  country,  the  missiona- 
ries of  Central  Japan  desire  to  emphasize 
the  j)aramount  importance  of  mutual  confi- 
dence as  the  basis  of  all  true  harmony  in 
Christian  work;  and  as  this  can  only  be 
secured  by  friendly  intercourse  and  frank 
and  unfettered  expression  of  opinion  on  sub- 
jects where  different  interests  are  involved, 
in  the  mind  and  spirit  of  Christ,  they  heart- 
ily welcome  the  opportunities  afforded  by 
the  meetings  of  this  association,  and  cor- 
dially recommend  united  meetings  of  the  mis- 
sionary committees  of  the  several  churches, 
and  similarly  constituted  bodies  in  the  dis- 
trict, as  a  means  to  this  end,  confidently 
believing  that  Christian  workers  who  are 
living  in  daily  communion  with  the  Lord,  by 
whom  they  are  commissioned,  in  whom  they 
are  essentially  one,  and  to  whose  glory  all 
their  efforts  are  directed,  will,  as  they  know 
each  other  better,  endeavor  to  keep  the  unity 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  and  help 
to  bring  about  the  full  realization  of  the 
Lord's  high-priestly  prayer,  '  That  they  all 
may  be  one  ;  even  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in 
us;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou 
didst  send  me.'  " 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

COMPARATIVE    RELIGION    AS    A    MATTER    OF 
EXPERIENCE. 

Comparative  religion  has  won  for  itself 
a  place  in  the  galaxy  of  modern  sciences. 
Already  has  it  thrown  much  light  upon  the 
origin  and  development  of  religious  ideas 
and  practices.  By  its  help  we  understand 
better  than  ever  before  the  relation  of  Ju- 
daism to  other  ancient  forms  of  belief.  Its 
historical  and  comparative  methods  of  study 
have  brought  into  clearer  light  the  differ- 
ences between  Christianity  and  other  exist- 
ing religions. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  this  is  a 
Christian  science.  It  is  so  because  it  is  a 
product  of  Christian  civilization,  and  because 
it  finds  its  impulse  in  that  freedom  of  in- 
quiry which  Christianity  fosters.  Although 
the  church  has  often  been  unfaithful  to 
the  spirit  of  its  founder  in  this  as  in  many 
other  respects,  it  still  remains  true  that  no- 
where else  than   among   Christian   peoples 


210  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

have  the  inductive  sciences  found  a  hospi- 
table home.  And  what  is  true  of  the  sci- 
ences in  general  is  true  of  Comparative  Re- 
ligion in  particular.  It  is  now  a  part  of  the 
course  of  instruction  in  many  of  the  colleges 
and  theological  seminaries  of  Christendom. 
Many  scholars  are  laboriously  engaged  in  its 
investigation,  and  in  the  periodical  press  as 
well  as  upon  the  platform  it  is  a  frequent 
subject  of  discussion.  Such  investigation  and 
discussion  are  unknown  among  non-Christian 
peoples  save  where  they  have  been  excited 
by  the  aggressiveness  of  Christian  missions. 
One  obstacle  to  the  real  progress  of  the 
science  has  been  the  imperfect  and  erro- 
neous information  which  we  have  had  con- 
cerning the  ethnic  religions.  The  collection, 
translation,  and  publication  of  the  authen- 
tic teachings  of  their  founders,  their  sacred 
books,  have  done  much  to  remove  this  ob- 
stacle. But  even  with  these  deliverances 
of  their  religious  teachers  in  our  hands,  we 
are  still  a  long  way  off  from  the  thoughts 
and  governing  motives  of  those  who  make 
up  the  mass  of  their  adherents.  It  is  also 
true  that  many  have  written  on  the  subject 
who  have  failed  to  divest  themselves  of  the 
preconceptions  of  Occidental  and  Christian 


TESTIMONY  OF  EXPERIENCE.         211 

civilization,  and  their  views  are  so  colored 
thereby  as  to  be  either  valueless  or  posi- 
tively misleading.  For  the  science  to  reach 
the  absolute  truth  and  to  include  all  the 
facts,  which  should  be  its  aim,  it  is  necessary 
to  know  the  relation  which  Christianity  and 
other  religions  bear  to  each  other  in  the 
minds  of  those  who,  while  they  may  not 
have  studied  their  theoretical  aspects,  have 
been  at  different  times  sincere  believers  and 
followers  of  them. 

Probably  there  is  no  better  opportunity 
to  learn  what  Comparative  Religion  is,  as 
a  matter  of  experience,  than  that  which  is 
offered  by  the  ordinary  testimony  of  those 
who  come  into  Christian  churches  on  mis- 
sion fields  after  having  spent  a  great  j)art  of 
their  lives  under  the  influence  and  in  the 
practice  of  other  religions.  Examinations 
for  baptism  are  a  frequent  occasion  of  this 
testimony.  If  there  were  only  that  given  in 
the  open  ports  to  foreigners  who  might  be 
easily  deceived  by  adventurers  expecting 
some  pecuniary  gain,  this  testimony  would 
be  of  little  value.  But  in  Japan,  in  the 
large  proportion  of  cases,  it  is  given  to 
native  pastors  and  church-officers,  foreign 
missionaries  being  present  only  occasionally. 


212  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

It  is  given,  too,  in  inland  cities  and  towns 
where  confession  of  Christ  frequently  en- 
tails business  and  social  ostracism,  and 
sometimes  downright  persecution  and  pecu- 
niary loss.  Under  such  circumstances,  there 
is  every  reason  to  regard  the  testimony  as 
the  genuine  thought  and  experience  of  the 
believer.  The  evidence  of  pastors  and  lay- 
men, incidentally  and  unconsciously  given,  is 
of  equal  validity.  Unless  I  have  lamentably 
failed  in  my  object,  many  pages  of  this 
book  bear  witness  to  the  incomparable  power 
of  Christianity  over  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
men.  Some  more  definite  reference  to  testi- 
mony given,  as  described  above,  by  those  who 
have  spent  many  years  in  the  belief  and  prac- 
tice of  Shintoism  and  Buddhism,  or  in  the 
study  of  Confucianism,  may  be  of  interest. 
I  have  in  mind  definite  persons  and  occa- 
sions. The  witnesses  include  men  and  wo- 
men, some  young  and  others  of  mature  age. 
They  embrace  those  who  greatly  differ  from 
each  other  in  scholarship,  wealth,  rank,  and 
position  in  the  community.  Some  have 
written  brief  statements  of  their  religious 
history,  more  testimony  has  been  given  in 
response  to  tlie  multiplied  and  varied  ques- 
tions of  pastors  and  their  associates  during 


THE  BURDEN  OF  SIN.  213 

protracted  examinations.  In  most  cases 
whore  the  foreigner  is  present,  although  a 
deeply  interested  spectator,  he  has  been  a 
silent  one.  As  scarcely  one  of  the  witnesses 
had  ever  heard  of  the  science  of  Compara- 
tive Religion,  their  testimony  is  all  the  more 
valuable,  because  of  its  unstudied  spon- 
taneity. It  is  explicit  upon  such  points  as 
these  :  — 

Christianity  brings  a  sense  of  sin  tvhich 
the  other  7'ellf/lons  named  above  do  not  pro- 
duce. There  often  has  been  an  intellectual 
recognition  of  the  fact  of  sin  and  its  conse- 
quences, but  a  powerful  impression  of  it  as  a 
personal  burdcm  is  not  common.  One  old 
lady  testified  that  she  had  hardly  thought  of 
herself  as  a  sinner,  until  she  began  to  hear 
this  "new  way."  Then  her  sins  stood  up 
before  her  in  strong  condemnation.  A 
young  lady,  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools, 
referring  to  her  parents'  unwillingness  that 
she  should  become  a  Christian,  said  that 
they  consented  only  when  told  that  she 
could  not  otherwise  get  rid  of  her  newly- 
felt  burden  of  sin.  Although  there  are  ex- 
ceptional cases,  one  of  which  will  be  given 
later,  it  is  the  general  testimony  of  Japanese 
Christians  that  their  knowledge  of  Christi- 


214  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

anity  brings  a  hitherto  unknown  sense  of 
sin. 

Christianity  alone  brings  true  repentance. 
If  the  old  religious  bring  no  adequate  sense 
of  sin,  how  can  they  produce  a  genuine  re- 
pentance ?  The  fear  of  punishment  is  gen- 
eral, and  often  clearly  defined,  but  a  deep 
personal  loathing  of  sin  is  practically  un- 
known. Often  repentance  is  the  strangest 
and  strongest  element  of  the  believer's  ex- 
perience. 

Christianity  alone  aivakens  a  true  spirit 
of  prayer.  If  no  sense  of  sin  and  no  deep 
repentance,  true  prayer  by  sinful  man  is  im- 
possible. *'  Before  I  became  a  Christian  I 
prayed  for  temporal  blessings  only,  for 
health,  for  children,  for  business  prosperity. 
I  never  prayed  for  spiritual  blessings.  I 
did  not  pray  for  others." 

Christianity  alone  brings  the  knowledge 
that  God  is  our  leather.  Some  sects  of 
Buddhists  teach  that  all  prayer  is  useless  ; 
practically,  the  followers  of  both  Buddhism 
and  Shi  utoism  worship  many  beings.  Among 
scholars  the  idea  of  a  Supreme  Kuler,  though 
not  his  worship,  is  common.  Christianity 
alone  teaches  that  this  "  Supreme  Ruler  "  is 
our  Father,  and  that  we  are  his  children. 


PERSON   AND    WORK   OF  CHRIST.      215 

"  Why  is  God  called  our  Father  ?  "  "  Be- 
cause his  love  is  greater  than  a  human  par- 
ent's love." 

In  his  'person  and  worh  Christ  is  unique. 
The  doctrine  of  the  incarnation  once  for 
all,  of  "  the  only  begotten  Son  "  of  the  One 
God,  is  infinitely  removed  from  the  count- 
less transmigrations  and  manifestations  of 
the  innumerable  buddhas.  In  its  freedom 
from  sin,  and  in  its  perfection  as  a  model, 
Christ's  life  is  superior  to  all  others. 
"  Neither  Buddha  nor  Confucius  taught  of 
an  atonement,  and  some  object  to  Christian- 
ity because  of  the  Cross  ;  but  I  regard  the 
doctrine  of  the  Cross  as  the  chief  excellence 
of  Christianity."  "  To  my  mind  the  peculiar 
doctrine  of  Christianity,  the  one  that  shows 
most  clearly  that  it  is  divine,  is  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ."  The  military  officer  spoken 
of  in  chapter  ix.,  who  found  a  New  Testa- 
ment in  the  bay  of  Nagasaki  in  1854,  said, 
when  at  conscious  risk  to  himself  and  family 
he  was  baptized  twelve  years  later,  "  Sir,  I 
cannot  tell  you  my  feelings,  when  for  the 
first  time  I  read  the  account  of  the  charac- 
ter and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  had  never 
seen,  or  heard,  or  imagined  such  a  person. 
I  was  filled  with  admiration,  overwhelmed 


216  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

with  emotion,  and  taken  captive  by  the 
record  of  his  nature  and  life." 

Concerning  the  unique  influence  of  the 
person  of  Christ  the  following  account,  writ- 
ten for  a  friend  by  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Kumamoto  Band  (see  ch.  v.)  of  his  ex- 
periences in  Captain  Janes's  school,  is  evi- 
dence in  point. 
^  "  We  began  the  Bible.     I  remember  we 

began  with  the  Gospel  of  John.  We  read 
on,  finished  John  and  began  Luke.  And 
gradually,  as  sure  as  the  penetrating  influ- 
ences of  the  morning  sun,  the  consciousness 
that  I  stood  before  a  Great  Personality 
dawned  in  my  heart.  We  had  learned  al- 
ready from  the  study  of  the  sciences  that 
there  was  a  God,  and  when  I  came  to  ad- 
mire the  person  of  Jesus  and  his  sayings,  I 
found  myself  without  any  effort  on  my  part 
a  follower  of  Jesus  and  a  believer  in  him  as 
my  Saviour.  I  began  to  pray  to  him.  I  be- 
gan to  understand  the  scriptures.  I  began 
to  speak  about  him  to  my  friends.  I  was 
not  alone.  Soon  the  whole  school  of  one  hun- 
dred young  men  were  exercised  to  the  very 
bottom  of  their  hearts  with  the  question  of 
Christianity  and  its  claims.  .  .  .  Then  like 
a  crash  the  hand  of  persecution  fell  on  me. 


A   FIERY  TRIAL.  217 

One  day  when  I  returned  home  from  school 
my  mother  very  decidedly  informed  me  that 
if  I  did  not  renounce  Christianity,  she  was 
going  to  commit  suicide  that  very  evening. 
My  father  had  been  assassinated  because  he 
was  supposed  to  be  a  believer  in  Christian- 
ity, and  his  friends  told  my  mother  that  if 
her  son  became  a  Christian  the  stain  on  the 
father's  name  could  never  be  washed  away. 
...  It  was  a  terrible  trial,  but  I  asked  for 
a  little  respite  of  three  days  that  I  might  re- 
consider the  claims  of  Christianity.  I  said 
I  was  willing  to  abandon  it,  if  I  could  see 
that  it  was  not  true.  So  it  went  on.  They 
used  every  means  in  their  power  to  change 
my  mind.  But  the  Unseen  Hand  was  above 
us  all  and  led  me.  After  three  months  I  got 
permission  to  go  to  the  government  college 
in  Tokyo,  and  a  year  later  I  entered  the 
theological  school  in  Ky5to.  .  .  .  My  mother 
is  a  Christian  now  rejoicing  in  her  faith." 

Christianity  alone  teaches  a  certain  and 
present  forgiveness  of  sin.  Buddhism  pro- 
mises deliverance  from  the  miseries  of  this 
world  and  from  the  chain  of  transmigra- 
tions at  death  rather  than  present  forgive- 
ness of  sin.  This  is  illustrated  in  the  fol- 
lowing  story   of   one   of   those   exceptional 


218  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

cases,  where  sin  is  felt  as  a  burden  before 
Christianity  has  been  received. 

Several  years  ago,  the  Japanese  pastor  of 
a  church  in  an  inland  city  showed  in  my 
presence  a  white  outer  garment  which  had 
been  the  property  of  a  woman,  who  was 
then  a  parishioner  of  his.  It  was  the  kind 
of  garment  that  is  seen  on  religious  pilgrims, 
and  is  often  put  upon  persons  as  death  ap- 
proaches or  when  the  body  is  prepared  for 
cremation.  This  one  was  literally  covered 
by  inscriptions  of  Buddhist  formulas,  and  by 
the  impressions  made  by  the  seals  of  the 
many  temples  she  had  visited,  in  the  hope  of 
finding  assurance  of  salvation.  But  these 
pilgrimages  and  inscriptions  brought  her  no 
peace  of  mind.  All  that  the  priests  could 
do,  she  said,  was  to  promise  a  probable  fu- 
ture forgiveness.  It  was  not  until  she  heard 
the  words  of  Jesus,  "  Thy  sins  are  forgiven 
thee,"  that  she  found  rest  and  peace.  Then 
she  was  ready  to  burn  her  white  garment, 
but  finally  consented  to  give  it  to  her  pastor. 
In  this  new-found  faith  and  peace,  as  I  have 
recently  been  told  by  tbe  pastor,  she  lived 
and  died. 

Chi'istianity  makes  loving  service  to  man- 
kind more  prominent  than  other  religions. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   THE    WORLD.      219 

"  Thou  slialt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 
"  Love  your  enemies." 

Christianiti/ s  doctrine  of  this  world  is 
superior.  Buddhism  makes  this  a  world  of 
misery  to  be  escaped  from.  Strictly  speak- 
ing only  those  are  Buddhists  who  have  "  aban- 
doned the  world "  and  become  monks  or 
nuns.  Christianity  makes  this  world  the 
sphere  of  duty  to  both  clergy  and  laity,  and 
so  impels  to  progress  and  reform  as  Bud- 
dhism does  not. 

Christianity's  doctrine  of  a  future  life 
is  more  rational  and  consistent  than  that 
of  other  religions.  Neither  Shintoism  nor 
Confucianism  has  any  clear  doctrine  of  a 
future  life.  The  oldest  Buddhist  books 
deny  it  altogether ;  the  later  books  tell  of  an 
inconceivably  sensuous  heaven. 

Christianity  alone  has  a  Sunday ;  a 
fixed  day  for  physical  rest  and  worship). 
"  Sunday  is  a  day  for  spiritual  culture,  for 
cleansing  our  hearts  by  meditation,  Bible 
reading,  and  prayer." 

Christianity  p)^^^^^  woman  in  a  higher 
position  and  gives  a  higher  ideal  of  mar- 
riage. In  the  civilization  produced  by  these 
other  religions,  marriage  is  arranged  by  the 
parents,  mutual  affection  before  marriage  is 


220  COMPARATIVE  RELIGION. 

not  thought  of,  and  the  parties  often  have 
no  choice  but  to  obey  the  parents'  wishes. 
Gross  immorality,  concubinage,  or  repeated 
previous  marriages  on  the  part  of  the  hus- 
band, make  no  difference.  Christianity 
alone  limits  divorce  to  one  cause,  and  grants 
it  to  the  wife,  as  well  as  to  the  husband, 
for  that  cause.  Christianity  alone  makes  the 
wife  her  husband's  equal.  This  thought  has 
already  given  a  new  impetus  to  female  edu- 
cation in  Japan. 

Finally^  Christianity  alone  is  a  living  re- 
ligion. Grant  freely  all  the  good  that  is  in 
other  religions.  It  is  practically  powerless. 
They  are  shihutsu,  "  dead  things,"  is  the 
often  repeated  assertion  of  our  Japanese 
preachers;  Christianity  by  its  fruits  shows 
that  it  has  its  Master's  life  within  it. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

SHIN   NIPPON. 

To  those  accustomed  to  listen  to  Japan- 
ese sermons  and  addresses,  the  two  phrases 
not  strictly  religious  which  become  most 
familiar  from  constant  repetition  are,  hum- 
mei  (civilization),  and  Shin  Nipjjon  (New 
Japan).  There  are  no  prophecies  of  the 
coming  of  a  new  nation,  no  arguments  to 
prove  an  impending  national  regeneration  ; 
it  is  always  taken  for  granted  that  the  new 
nation  is  already  here  and  to  stay.  The 
only  questions  which  the  speakers  raise  are, 
"  How  complete  shall  the  regeneration  be?  " 
'*  What  shall  be  the  permanent  characteris- 
tics of  the  new  nation  ?  "  "  What  privileges 
and  responsibilities  does  this  new  material 
civilization,  which  is  already  here,  and  which 
to  many  seems  all-sufficient,  bring  to  Chris- 
tian men  and  women,  of  spirit  and  patriot- 
ism?" 

It  is  not  strange  that  this  civilization  daz- 
zles the  minds  of  the  Japanese,  as  a  brief 


222  SHIN  NIPPON. 

glaDce  at  it  will  show.  Less  than  twenty-five 
years  ago,  the  usurping  shogun's  government 
was  overthrown,  the  Tenshi  restored  to  im- 
perial power,  and  Japan  started  definitely 
and  determinedly  on  the  course  of  progress. 
Since  that  time,  fifteen  hundred  miles  of 
railway  have  been  laid  down  and  put  in 
operation.  At  first,  this  untried  work  was 
wisely  placed  under  foreign  supervision ; 
now,  excellent  railroads,  including  tunnels  of 
considerable  length,  are  built  by  Japanese 
engineers.  Rails,  engines,  and  cars  are 
made  in  Japan,  though  the  increase  in  the 
mileage  of  the  roads  being  more  rapid  than 
that  of  the  capacity  of  the  shops,  the  impor- 
tation of  these  materials  still  continues.  A 
very  few  foreign  advisers  are  still  retained, 
but  both  freight  and  passenger  traffic  are 
under  native  management. 

Two  thousand  miles  of  telephone,  and 
more  than  twenty  thousand  miles  of  tele- 
graph, have  been  built  since  1870.  An  ex- 
cellent corps  of  operators  has  been  trained, 
and  the  telegraph  is  used  for  weather  re- 
ports just  as  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

Within  the  same  period,  a  postal  system 
excelling  our  own  in  many  respects  (e.  g. 
universal  delivery,  return  postal  cards,  pos- 


MATERIAL  PROGRESS.  223 

tal  savings  banks)  has  been  created.  There 
are  now  fifty  thousand  miles  of  postal  roads, 
and  one  hundred  and  forty  million  pieces  of 
mail  matter  go  through  the  domestic  mails 
annually.  Their  first  foreign  postal  treaty 
was  made  with  the  United  States  in  1873  ; 
now  two  million  pieces  of  mail  matter  go 
through  the  foreign  department  each  year. 

In  1868,  Japan's  imports  amounted  to 
110,693,072;  in  1890,  they  were  181,728,581. 
The  exports  for  1868  were  $15,553,473 ;  for 
1890,  156,603,506.  (Silver  is  the  basis  in 
every  case.) 

Japan  reports  an  army  of  245,528,  of 
which  about  60,000  are  with  the  colors. 
On  visiting  its  military  college,  General 
Grant  wrote  :  ''  One  of  the  foremost  of  simi- 
lar institutions  which  I  have  seen  in  the 
world."  The  Navy  Department  reports 
11,634  officers  and  men,  and  34  men-of-war, 
with  a  tonnage  (French)  of  55,276,  and 
70,065  horse -power.  The  military  appro- 
priation for  1890  was  $13,413,000 ;  that  of 
the  navy  $6,911,813. 

There  are  one  hundred  and  eleven  light- 
houses, supj)lied  with  all  modern  improve- 
ments, in  addition  to  light-ships,  beacons, 
buoys,   and   other   protective   arrangements 


■i$- 


224  SHIN  NIPPON. 

for  navigation.  "  Japanese  warships  have 
undertaken  many  soundings,  harbor  meas- 
urements, and  other  labors,  whose  results 
have  been  made  permanent  in  valuable 
charts,  so  that,"  to  continue  in  the  words 
of  Dr.  Eein,  "  in  this  respect  also  the  Hi-no- 
maru  (circle  of  the  sun)  that  is,  the  national 
flag,  with  a  red  sun  in  a  white  field,  need 
not  hide  its  folds." 

Engaged  in  the  coasting  trade  are  1,407 
ships  of  foreign  pattern,  with  a  tonnage  of 
141,144;  and  637,034  vessels  of  Japanese 
style. 

The  progress  in  education  and  in  the  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge  has  been  equally  marked. 
Twenty  years  ago  there  was  not  in  all  the 
Empire  a  single  newspaper  published  in  the 
vernacular  by  a  Japanese.  To-day  there 
are  more  than  seven  hundred  periodicals, 
which  sent  out  in  1890  an  aggregate  of 
188,289,728  numbers.  Seventeen  Tokyo 
dailies  send  out  46,872,000  numbers  annu- 
ally. The  number  of  books  published  in 
1890  was  17,658. 

Immediately  upon  the  restoration  of  the 
Mikado  to  power  in  1868,  a  Board  of  Edu- 
cation was  established ;  and  it  is  a  proof  of 
the  nation's  earnestness,  as  well  as  of  the 


THE  NEW  EDUCATION.  225 

difficulties  which  have  been  encountered, 
that  since  that  time,  this  Board  and  the 
whole  educational  system  have  each  been 
remodeled  eight  times.  As  showing  the 
spirit  with  which  this  work  was  undertaken, 
I  quote  from  an  Imperial  Edict  issued  in 
those  early  years : 

"  Although  learning  is  essential  to  success 
in  life  for  all  classes  of  men,  yet  for  farm- 
ers, artisans,  and  merchants,  and  for  women, 
it  has  been  regarded  as  beyond  their  sphere  ; 
and,  even  among  the  upper  classes,  aimless 
discussions  and  vain  styles  of  composition 
only  were  cultivated,  from  which  no  practi- 
cal use  could  ever  be  deduced.  Much  pov- 
erty and  failure  in  life  are  owing  to  these 
mistaken  views.  It  is  intended  that  hence- 
forth education  shall  he  so  diffused  that 
there  may  not  be  a  village  with  an  igno- 
rant family,  nor  a  family  with  an  ignorant 
member.''^  In  the  same  spirit  the  govern- 
ment has  been  laboring  ever  since,  and,  as 
a  result,  there  is  now  an  excellent  —  not 
perfect,  of  course  —  educational  system  which 
includes  the  kindergarten  at  one  extreme, 
and  a  well-equipped  university  at  the  other. 
In  its  ninety  kindergartens  are  gathered 
more  than   six  thousand   children.     In  its 


22Q  SHIN  NIPPON. 

29,233  elementary  schools  are  97,316  teach- 
ers and  pupil-teachers,  and  3,273,489  pu- 
pils. There  are  49  ordinary  middle  schools 
with  10,441  pupils,  7  higher  middle  schools 
(colleges)  with  3,939  pupils,  and  46  normal 
schools  with  3,938  pupils.  In  the  Univer- 
sity there  are  120  instructors,  16  of  them 
being  foreigners,  and  738  students.  Of  these 
students,  nearly  one  half  are  in  the  Depart- 
ment of  Law,  nearly  one  third  in  that  of 
Medicine,  and  one  seventh  are  studying  En- 
gineering. The  remaining  departments  of 
Literature  and  Science  have  about  forty  stu- 
dents each.  The  cost  of  this  educational 
system  is  more  than  $8,000,000  (silver) 
annually. 

The  political  changes  have  been  not  less 
marked.  In  1868  feudalism  was  abolished 
and  the  Tenshi  (son  of  Heaven)  became, 
for  the  first  time  in  many  centuries,  the  de 
facto  ruler  of  all  Japan,  swearing  as  he  as- 
cended the  throne  to  give  his  people,  in  due 
time,  a  constitutional  and  representative 
government.  After  twenty  years  of  waiting 
and  preparation,  that  oath  has  been  ful- 
filled. Japan  has  both  a  liberal  constitu- 
tion and  a  parliament.  This  is  the  "  New 
Japan  "  which  has  already  come.     Its  civi- 


RECOGNIZED  DEFICIENCIES.         227 

lization  is  by  no  means  complete  and  sat- 
isfactory. The  tendency  of  many  to  rest 
contented  with  material  progress,  railways, 
telegraphs,  a  growing  commerce,  a  large 
army,  etc.,  is  recognized.  That  more  than 
fifty  per  cent  of  its  school  population  are 
not  at  school,  and  that  female  education 
lags  far  behind  that  provided  for  males,  is 
admitted.  The  lack  of  a  satisfactory  "  ba- 
sis of  ethics  "  is  felt  deeply  by  the  most 
influential  educators.  The  great  danger  to 
the  nation  from  unprincipled  politicians  in 
the  new  parliament  weighs  heavily  upon 
many  a  patriotic  heart.  The  existence  of 
concubinage,  together  with  the  unsatisfac- 
tory character  of  the  present  marriage  laws 
and  the  marriage  relation  —  one  divorce  to 
every  three  marriages  —  is  widely  lament- 
ed. Granted  all  these  deficiencies,  some  of 
which  will  be  touched  upon  in  the  succeed- 
ing chapter,  the  fact  of  great,  solid,  and 
beneficent  progress  already  achieved  still 
remains  undisturbed.  Who  will  not  say, 
especially  in  view  of  the  great  contrast  with 
the  past,  that  the  term  "  Shin  Nippon  "  is 
not  fittingly  used  ?  Who  will  deny  that 
greater  prosperity  is  still  in  store  for  this 
bright  and  energetic  people  ? 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CHRISTIANITY   AND   NEW   JAPAN. 

What  relation  is  there  between  Christian- 
ity and  the  New  Japan  described  in  the 
preceding  chapter? 

New  Japan  is  largely  a  product  of  Chris- 
tian influences. 

Notice  that  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  the 
product  of  Christian  influences  only.  I  cor- 
dially subscribe  to  the  opinion  advanced  by 
Dr.  W.  E.  Griffis  in  "  The  Mikado's  Em- 
pire," that  there  were  internal  forces  at 
work  in  Japan,  which  would  have  brought 
about  a  revolution  in  the  national  life,  even 
though  outside  influences  had  not  come  into 
play.  The  presence  of  Commodore  Perry's 
fleet  in  Japanese  waters  but  quickened  the 
action  of  revolutionary  forces,  which  had 
long  been  in  operation. 

Notice  further  that  in  using  the  term 
"Christian  influences,"  I  mean  something 
far  wider  than  the  direct  efforts  of  the  mis- 
sionaries.    Christian  civilization   has   made 


CHRISTIAN  CIVILIZATION.  229 

itself  felt  as  a  mighty  power  in  Japan. 
Granted  the  existence  of  internal  revolution- 
ary tendencies,  the  indisputable  facts  re- 
main that  Perry's  visit  did  precipitate  this 
national  revolution,  and  that  the  impact  of 
Christian  civilization  gave  form  to  the  new 
civilization  of  Japan. 

When  the  nation  was  unwillingly  aroused 
from  its  slumber  of  two  and  a  half  centuries, 
whither  did  it  go  for  its  teachers  and  mod- 
els ?  Not  to  China,  or  India,  or  Persia,  or 
to  any  unchristian  nation,  but  —  as  the  result 
clearly  shows,  and  as  one  of  the  two  leading 
statesmen  of  that  formative  period  once  stated 
in  my  presence,  —  they  deliberately  took  the 
civilization  of  Christian  countries  as  their 
pattern.  Their  first  railways,  light-houses, 
and  telegraphs  were  built  by  men  from  Chris- 
tian England.  Their  soldiers  were  trained 
by  Frenchmen,  and  their  army  organized  like 
that  of  France.  Their  physicians  were  edu- 
cated mainly  by  Germans.  The  teachers 
and  text-books  in  their  schools  were  largely 
from  the  United  States,  and  to  our  Christian 
colleges  and  universities  hundreds  of  their 
youth  were  sent  for  higher  instruction. 
Their  customs  service,  their  postal,  legal, 
educational,  and  political  systems  were  obvi- 


230     CHRISTIANITY  AND  NEW  JAPAN. 

ously  borrowed  from  Christian  lands.  Even 
their  old  calendar  was  given  up,  and  the 
Gregorian  calendar  of  Christendom  adopted, 
and  the  Christian  Sunday  made  a  rest  day 
for  all  officials,  and  for  the  teachers  and 
pupils  of  the  public  schools. 

It  is  not  contended  that  these  systems  are 
all  in  complete  accord  with  the  teaching  of 
Christ,  but  it  is  maintained  that  that  teach- 
ing has  been  a  formative  principle  to  the 
civilization  of  which  these  systems  are  a 
part.  Above  all,  contact  with  this  civiliza- 
tion through  its  representatives  in  Japan,  or 
by  visits  to  foreign  lands,  brought  the  Japan- 
ese into  relation  with  men  permeated  by  the 
Christian  spirit.  The  personal  influence  of 
Christian  statesmen  of  America,  England, 
or  Germany  over  individual  Japanese  states- 
men has  been  deeply  felt  and  acknowledged. 
It  is,  for  example,  an  open  secret  that  when 
Count  Ito,  who  afterwards  framed  the  na- 
tional constitution,  visited  German}^,  he  was 
remarkably  affected  by  the  evidently  sincere 
declarations  of  the  Emperor  William  and 
Prince  Bismarck  that  the  Christian  religion 
is  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  Japan.  The 
influence  of  Christian  teachers  and  other  em- 
ployees of  the  government  has  been  benefi- 


CHRISTIAN  BOOKS.  231 

cent  in  its  results.  Even  those  who  have 
taken  a  position  antagonistic  to  Christianity- 
have  not  been  able  to  disguise  the  fact  that 
they  were  educated  in  schools  founded  by 
Christian  self-sacrifice,  and  guided  and  ruled 
by  Christian  men  ;  and  that  they  themselves 
were  products  of  a  cul^^ure  permeated  by 
Christian  ideals.  Not  only  the  public  men 
and  institutions  of  Christendom,  but  the  pri- 
vate home-life  of  Christian  families  also,  has 
profoundly  impressed  Japanese  students  and 
others  visiting  the  Occident.  The  influence 
of  Christian  books  —  books  upon  all  sub- 
jects written  in  the  Christian  spirit,  whether 
in  the  originals  or  in  translations  —  has  been 
incalculable.  Wayland's  "  Moral  Philoso- 
phy," Northend's  "  Teacher  and  Parent  '* 
and  Dr.  Wines's  writings  upon  penology 
are  good  examples  of  this  class,  and  fittingly 
close  this  imperfect  list  of  the  influences  by 
which  Christian  civilization  has  achieved 
and  is  achieving  a  great  victory  physically, 
intellectually,  and  morally,  over  the  non- 
Christian  systems  of  Japan. 

But  the  direct  influence  of  Christian  mis- 
sions deserves  a  place  close  beside  that  of 
Christian  civilization.  Accounts  have  al- 
ready been   given   of   the   influence  of   the 


232     CHRISTIANITY  AND  NEW  JAPAN. 

religion  of  Christ  over  individual  hearts  and 
lives,  over  communities,  —  resulting  in  the 
organization  of  a  local  church,  —  and  of  the 
growth  of  one  of  the  larger  Christian  de- 
nominations. The  time  has  now  come  to 
speak  of  the  aggregate  results  of  missionary 
effort.  The  latest  available  statistics  are 
given  in  Appendix  D. 

These  statistics,  though  not  complete  for 
all  the  missions,  are  sufficiently  accurate  to 
show,  so  far  as  a  tabular  statement  can, 
the  results  and  present  condition  of  mis- 
sionary effort  in  Japan.  We  have  there 
more  than  five  hundred  foreign  missionaries, 
and  a  considerably  larger  native  force,  liv- 
ing and  preaching  in  five  hundred  different 
places.  There  are  now  thirty-three  thou- 
sand Christians  gathered  into  three  hundred 
and  forty-four  churches,  one  evidence  of 
whose  faith  is  the  gift  of  172,000  in  1891 
for  Christian  and  philanthropic  purposes. 
More  than  seven  thousand  youth  are  under 
instruction  in  the  various  institutions  of 
learning  ;  seventeen  thousand  pupils  being 
enrolled  in  the  Sunday-schools. 

Surely  that  is  no  mean  showing !  Surely 
a  movement  of  such  dimensions  must  have 
no  small  influence  upon  the  life  of  the  na- 


MISSIONARIES  AND  EDUCATION.      233 

tion  !  Almost  every  page  of  this  book  illus- 
trates the  value  of  the  work  done.  The  in- 
fluence of  missionary  physicians  directly 
upon  the  tens  of  thousands  of  patients  whom 
they  have  skillfully  treated,  indirectly  upon 
the  native  medical  profession,  and,  by  their 
benevolent  work  among  the  poor,  upon  the 
thought  of  the  people  at  large  ;  the  advice 
given  and  plans  suggested  in  regard  to  pri- 
son reform  ;  lectures  upon  political  economy ; 
their  work  in  various  schools  from  the  Im- 
perial University  downward,  —  all  these 
indirect  forms  of  service  have  scarcely  been 
touched  upon.  Speaking  of  mission  schools. 
Count  Inouye,  whose  statement  concerning 
the  influence  of  Christian  civilization  is  re- 
ferred to  on  page  229,  stated  in  the  same 
interview  that  reports  universally  agreed  in 
putting  the  morals  of  their  students  at  a 
much  higher  grade  than  those  of  students  in 
other  schools.  As  an  example  of  the  mis- 
sionary's influence  as  a  teacher,  take  Eev. 
Dr.  Verbeck,  whose  important  work  has  al- 
ready been  referred  to.  His  position  as  the 
organizer  of  the  school  from  which  the  pres- 
ent throroughly  equipped  university  has 
grown,  and  as  adviser  for  many  years  to 
the  educational  department,  was  the  begin- 


234     CHRISTIANITY  AND  NEW  JAPAN. 

ning  of  a  cliain  of  influences  whicli  sent 
many  young  men  to  the  Christian  schools  of 
the  West,  introduced  into  Japanese  schools 
thousands  of  our  text-books,  and  secured  as 
teachers  and  advisers  in  educational  matters 
such  men  as  E^v.  Dr.  Griffis,  Captain  Janes, 
President  Clark,  Dr.  Vedder,  Dr.  Murray, 
and  others.  Dr.  Yerbeck's  name  is  also  on 
the  list  of  the  official  translators  of  the  Code 
Napoleon,  —  now,  with  some  modifications, 
the  law  of  the  Empire. 

But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  influence  of 
this  considerable  body  of  Japanese  Chris- 
tians ? 

As  already  intimated,  it  is  a  large  estimate 
which  puts  the  present  number  of  Christians 
in  Japan  at  forty  thousand,  or  one  in  one 
thousand  of  its  forty  millions  of  people. 
This  fact  shows  among  other  things  that  the 
thorough  evangelization  of  the  nation  is  still 
a  great  way  off.  Taken  in  connection  with 
another  fact,  it  has  special  significance. 
When  the  first  Imperial  Parliament  opened 
in  1890,  every  one  was  surprised  to  find  that, 
besides  several  Christian  members  of  the 
House  of  Nobles,  of  the  three  hundred  mem- 
bers in  the  House  of  Commons,  twelve  were 
members  of  Protestant  Christian  churches, 


CHRISTIANS  IN  PARLIAMENT.        235 

and  the  surprise  increased  when  of  the  three 
nominations  for  speaker,  made  by  the  house 
upon  its  organization,  the  Emperor  chose 
Nobuyuki  Nakashima,  a  member  of  a  Chris- 
tian church,  to  fill  that  ofiice.  The  third  offi- 
cer of  the  House  is  also  a  Christian.  That  is, 
of  the  whole  population,  only  one  in  one  thou- 
sand are  Christians,  while  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  twelve  representatives,  including 
the  first  and  third  officers,  or  one  in  twenty- 
five,  are  members  of  Protestant  churches.  It 
has  been  said  publicly  and  repeatedly  that 
evangelical  missions  in  tJapan  reach  only  the 
lowest  and  most  ignorant  classes,  and  that 
there  is  no  trace  of  their  influence  upon 
the  thought  and  life  of  the  nation.  Those 
who  make  or  publish  this  statement  may 
very  properly  now  rise  and  explain  how  it 
can  be  reconciled  with  the  above-mentioned 
facts. 

What  is  the  reason  of  this  immense  dis- 
proportion? Doubtless  one  explanation  is 
in  the  fact  that  Christianity  has  appealed  to 
and  been  received  by  the  more  intelligent 
classes.  For  example,  it  is  well  known  that 
the  proportion  of  students  who  are  Christians 
is  comparatively  very  great.  But  this  does 
not  explain  how  so  large  a  proportion  of 


236    CHRISTIANITY  AND  NEW  JAPAN. 

Christians  came  to  be  voted  for.    Keally  the 
explanation  is  very  easy. 

A  few  years  ago  the  central  government, 
doubtless  with  the  wise  purpose  of  educating 
its  people  in  legislative  processes,  instituted 
legislative  assemblies  in  the  different  pre- 
fectures into  which  the  country  has  been 
divided  since  1871.  These  assemblies  pos- 
sessed very  limited  powers  at  first,  the 
limitations  being  gradually  removed  as  they 
gained  the  wisdom  of  experience.  To  these 
local  assemblies  a  few  Christians  were  chosen, 
and  it  was  found  that,  just  as  it  was  in 
the  formative  period  of  our  own  free  and 
representative  government,  the  best  prepara- 
tion for  the  legislator's  duties  had  been  the 
preaching  of  the  ministers  of  the  gospel.  The 
little  churches  of  Japan  had  been  schools  for 
training  statesmen.  To  speak  of  external 
things  first,  the  deliberations  and  decisions 
of  individual  churches,  and  of  conferences 
and  presbyteries,  were  a  most  valuable  train- 
ing in  public  speaking  and  in  parliamentary 
methods,  and  made  the  Christians  familiar  in 
a  most  practical  way  with  representative  in- 
stitutions, and  government  by  majority  as  an 
integral  part  of  them.  But  more  than  this 
had  happened.     In   so  far  as  their  minds 


CAPABLE  LEGISLATORS.  237 

were  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Christ  they  had 
come  to  look  upon  all  men  as  their  brothers 
and  equals,  and  to  feel  under  a  constant  con- 
straint to  labor  with  unselfish  devotion  to 
make  men  better  and  happier.  In  other 
words,  Christianity  had  given  them  princi- 
ples and,  to  a  certain  extent,  methods  of  ac- 
tion. This  gave  them  immense  advantage 
as  legislators  over  many  of  their  colleagues 
who  had  neither  the  Christians'  moral  and 
intellectual  training,  nor  the  same  courage 
of  their  convictions.  The  result  was,  that 
the  Christians  almost  invariably  came  into 
prominence  as  disinterested  and  capable  leg- 
islators. The  measures  for  the  public  weal 
advocated  and  often  carried  to  a  successful 
issue  by  these  men  led  to  their  appointment 
to  important  positions  in  these  local  as- 
semblies, and  indirectly  to  their  increase  in 
numbers.  Thus  in  Gumma  prefecture,  where 
Christian  principles  had  been  most  ably  and 
fearlessly  advocated  and  carried  into  prac- 
tice, there  were  in  its  assembly,  a  year  or 
two  ago,  nine  Protestant  Christians,  includ- 
ing the  chairman  and  vice-chairman,  out  of 
a  total  membership  of  sixty. 

When,  therefore,  the  time  came  to  choose 
members  of  the  Imperial  Diet,  what  could 


238     CHRISTIANITY  AND  NEW  JAPAN. 

have  been  more  natural  than  that  the  men 
who  had  distinguished  themselves  for  legis- 
lative honesty  and  ability  in  the  prefectural 
assemblies  should  be  asked  to  go  up  higher  ? 
This  is  what  actually  did  take  place,  and  is 
the  rationale  of  the  presence  of  so  many 
Protestant  Christians  in  the  first  parliament 
of  Japan. 

To  go  back  to  the  prefectural  assemblies : 
it  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  seventeen  of  the 
forty-five  prefectures,  Christians  are  found 
as  members,  their  total  number  being  more 
than  thirty.  The  influence  of  these  men 
has  been,  as  a  rule,  on  the  side  of  honesty 
of  administration  and  economy  in  expendi- 
tures ;  it  has  been  felt  in  favor  of  temperance, 
and  especially  in  the  suppression  of  social 
vice.  By  Christian  influence  inside  and 
outside  of  the  assemblies,  votes  abolishing 
licensed  vice  have  been  reached  in  the  seven 
prefectures  of  Kochi,  Tochigi,  Miyagi,  Ka- 
nagawa,  Kagoshima,  and  Fukushima.  In 
others,  the  movement  has  come  but  little 
short  of  success.  A  friend  of  the  writer,  a 
member  of  the  Kyoto  Assembly,  for  carry- 
ing such  a  measure  on  to  success,  was  vio- 
lently attacked  by  a  company  of  men  at  the 
instigation  of  the  keepers  of  such  houses, 


CHRISTIAN  REFORMERS.  239 

and  escaped  only  through  the  great  exertions 
of  his  friends.  The  Kyoto  government  re- 
garded the  danger  to  his  person  so  great 
that  he  was  placed  under  the  protection  of 
two  policemen,  who,  dressed  in  citizen's 
clothes,  were  with  him  day  and  night  for 
weeks.  In  another  prefecture,  in  their  in- 
ability to  secure  the  immediate  passage  of 
more  stringent  measures,  high  board  fences 
were  placed  before  every  disreputable  house 
to  prevent  indecent  exposure. 

And  so  it  is  in  many  relations  of  life.  In 
temperance  meetings,  in  educational  meet- 
ings, in  meetings  for  all  purposes  of  benevo- 
lence or  reform,  it  is  the  Christians  who 
have  principles  to  stand  upon,  who  have  a 
programme  to  follow.  If  they  remain  true 
to  their  Master's  teachings  they  wiU  increas- 
ingly sway  men's  consciences,  and  so,  sooner 
or  later,  become  the  spiritual  leaders  and 
rulers  of  the  empire. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  PRESENT   OUTLOOK. 

No  account  of  mission  work  in  Japan 
would  be  complete  or  candid,  which  did  not 
recognize  the  conservative  and  anti-foreign 
reaction  which  has  been  noticeable  during 
the  past  few  years. 

The  coming  of  such  a  reaction  has  long 
been  regarded  as  inevitable,  and  in  many- 
respects  desirable.  For  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury and  more,  the  government  and  the  people 
had  been  looking  with  wonder  and  admira- 
tion upon  foreign  lands.  Our  chapter  on 
New  Japan  has  shown  us  how  many  things 
they  found  in  our  civilization  which  they 
could  wisely  appropriate.  A  regular  foreign 
fever  set  in.  Everything  domestic  came  to 
be  looked  upon  as  inferior ;  everything  from 
abroad  was  accepted  as  superior,  and  adopted 
with  little  inquiry  as  to  its  merits.  Govern- 
ment offices  and  schools  had  buildings  in  for- 
eign style.  Men  of  wealth  began  to  follow 
the  same  fashion  in  building  their  residences. 


A  FOREIGN  FEVER.  241 

Chairs,  tables,  and  other  foreign  furniture 
became  common.  All  officials  were  required 
to  dress  in  European  style.  Soldiers,  police- 
men, postmen,  and  railway  employees,  were 
all  put  into  foreign  uniforms.  The  English 
language  became  a  part  of  the  course  of 
study  in  all  grammar  schools  and  those  of  a 
higher  grade.  Japanese  ladies,  imitating  the 
example  so  generally  set  by  their  husbands 
and  fathers,  appeared  in  European  costume ; 
some  in  Parisian  dresses,  others  in  dresses 
that  might  have  been  made  almost  anywhere. 
Little  boys  of  five  years  were  arrayed  in 
claw-hammer  coats,  and  otherwise  uncom- 
fortably and  grotesquely  clad. 

Food  cooked,  or  supposed  to  be  cooked, 
in  foreign  style,  became  the  rage.  Beer  and 
wine,  or  their  execrable  imitations,  could  be 
had  in  the  remotest  interior  towns.  Dancing 
and  cards  became  the  passion  of  the  hour. 
This  more  expensive  style  of  living  demanded 
higher  salaries  for  officials,  and  an  era  of 
extravagance,  or  what  to  the  people  seemed 
extravagance,  set  in,  and  the  burdened  tax- 
payers grew  restive.  This  opposition  to  the 
expensive  manner  of  administering  the  gov- 
ernment, and  of  official  life,  is  the  expla- 
nation of  the  fact  that  in  the  first  session  of 


242      THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK. 

the  first  parliament,  the  twelve  and  a  half 
millions  of  dollars  for  national  expenditure, 
submitted  to  it  by  the  government,  were  re- 
duced to  six  millions.  It  also  explains  the 
dissolution  of  the  parliament  in  December, 
1891. 

The  excessive  value  placed  upon  all  for- 
eign articles  and  institutions  was  justly  re- 
sented by  those  who  felt  that  Japan  has 
much  that  is  worthy  of  preservation.  The 
careful  discrimination  between  the  good  and 
evil  elements  in  Western  civilization,  and  the 
gradual  assimilation  of  the  former  only, 
rather  than  the  mechanical  incorporation  of 
the  whole,  was  advocated.  The  unjust  posi- 
tion taken,  and  the  unreasonable  delays  made 
by  foreign  powers  in  the  matter  of  treaty 
revision,  were  seized  upon  and  industriously 
used  by  ultra  -  conservatives  to  irritate  the 
people. 

And  so  the  reaction  came,  political,  social, 
and  religious.  After  the  manner  of  reac- 
tions, it  went  to  extremes.  The  new  trea- 
ties with  foreign  powers  which  had  been 
agreed  upon  but  not  formally  ratified,  al- 
though far  more  favorable  than  the  existing 
ones,  met  with  strong  popular  disapproval 
on  the  ground  that  they  did  not  recognize 


CHARGES  AGAINST  CHRISTIANS.      243 

the  sovereignty  of  Japan  and  the  progress 
she  had  made.  So  strong  was  public  senti- 
ment on  the  question  that  the  government 
was  practically  compelled  to  repudiate  them, 
and  even  the  statesmen  who  aided  in  fram- 
ing them  were  forced  into  retirement.  Con- 
servatism in  the  family  and  in  social  life 
asserted  itself,  and  missionary  work,  which 
doubtless  had  been  aided  in  its  advances  by 
the  wave  of  popularity  which  belonged  to 
all  things  foreign,  felt  keenly  the  force  of 
the  reaction.  "  Christianity,"  it  was  said, 
"  is  an  Occidental  religion,  good  enough  for 
Occidentals,  it  may  be,  but  un suited  to  the 
genius  of  Oriental  peoples.  It  is  the  state 
religion  of  some  and  the  prevalent  religion 
of  all  of  these  nations  which  are  so  unjustly 
refusing  us  a  revision  of  the  treaties.  To 
accept  it,  therefore,  is  to  throw  discredit  not 
only  upon  the  religions  which  our  fathers 
have  handed  down  to  us,  but  upon  those 
fathers,  and  upon  our  national  history  and 
life  as  well."  "  The  Christians,"  they  went 
on  to  say,  "  do  not  observe  our  holidays, 
which  are  patriotic  quite  as  much  as  reli- 
gious, and  many  of  them  refuse  to  bow 
before  the  portrait  of  the  Te?ishi^  saying 
'There  is  another  king,  one  Jesus.'     They 


244      THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK. 

are  therefore  unpatriotic.  Belief  in  Chris- 
tianity means  denationalization,  and  is  it 
not  true  that  these  '  Christian  nations  '  have 
used  missionaries  as  pioneers  of  their  own 
conquests  ?  " 

And  just  at  that  time  there  was  a  con- 
junction of  influences  unfavorable  to  evan- 
gelical Christianity.  A  Unitarian  "  envoy  " 
arrived  in  Japan,  "  not  to  convert,  but  con- 
fer with  the  Japanese  upon  religious  mat- 
ters." He  published  articles  upon  "  the 
value  of  species  in  religion,"  and  regarded 
the  missionaries  as  unwise  in  asking  the 
Japanese,  and  they  foolish  in  consenting,  to 
forsake  their  inherited  religions.  He  de- 
clared himself  to  be  "  a  follower  of  Buddha 
and  all  other  great  religious  teachers."  The 
word  "  Unitarian  "  was  said  to  mean  "  the 
unity  of  mankind  ; "  and  "  atonement,  salva- 
tion and  the  future  life"  were  "  the  deadest 
of  issues."  In  Japan  the  Orthodox  ministers 
of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  the  mission- 
aries, were  charged  with  insincerity,  and  in 
our  own  land  it  was  frequently  stated  that 
evangelical  missions  had  failed  to  touch  the 
thought  and  life  of  Japan. 

Then  there  came  several  German  mis- 
sionaries who,  while   showing   an   excellent 


TARES  SOWN.  245 

spirit  in  many  respects,  began  the  dissemi- 
nation of  extreme  critical  views  as  to  the 
structure  and  nature  of  the  Bible.  All  of 
the  Gospel  of  John  and  much  of  the  Synop- 
tics are  destitute  of  historic  value.  There 
vi^ere  no  miracles.  Not  even  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ  was  real.  The  circumstances 
of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  his  birthplace,  and 
Davidic  descent,  are  all  uncertain ;  the 
gospel  stories  of  them  were  manufactured 
from  the  Old  Testament.  Eeady  as  we  are 
to  recognize  the  noble  work  done  by  Unita- 
rians elsewhere,  and  to  accord  them  Chris- 
tian fellowship  when  working  "  In  His 
Name,"  and  fearless  as  we  are  of  the  results 
of  critical  investigation  of  all  kinds,  it  is  the 
simple  truth  to  say,  that  the  principal  effects 
of  the  early  years  of  these  two  movements 
were  doubts  of  the  gospel  and  distrust  of 
the  missionaries  sown  in  the  minds  of  Japa- 
nese Christians. 

About  the  same  time  a  number  of  young 
Christians  came  to  the  United  States.  De- 
spite the  cautions  given  them,  they  expected 
to  find  the  nation  with  such  a  religion  and 
such  a  history  very  like  heaven  itself.  But 
when  they  saw  our  treatment  of  the  Chinese 
and  Indians,  and  perhaps  received  similar 


246      THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK. 

treatment  themselves ;  wlien  in  some  of  our 
cities  they  found  the  saloons  in  full  blast, 
even  on  Sunday,  is  it  strange  that  they  were 
tremendously  disappointed?  Is  it  strange 
that  they  found  it  easy  to  believe  the  asser- 
tion which  they  had  frequently  heard  in 
Japan,  that  Christianity  is  losing  its  power 
over  Western  peoples  ? 

One  young  man  went  on  to  Europe,  had 
an  interview  with  the  author  of  "  Robert 
Elsmere  "  in  London,  and  met  several  liberal 
thinkers  in  Berlin,  and,  as  he  has  since  said 
both  publicly  and  privately,  he  started  home- 
ward with  his  faith  greatly  shaken.  Passing 
through  Egypt  and  India  he  found  the  heel 
of  the  Englishman  upon  the  necks  of  the 
darker  races,  and  he  asked  himself,  "Shall 
Japan  share  a  similar  fate  ?  "  His  patriotic 
soul  revolted  at  the  thought,  and  on  his 
return  to  his  native  land  he  joined  in  the 
already  popular  cry  "Japan  for  the  Japa- 
nese." The  lamentable  failure  of  union 
between  the  two  largest  denominations  in 
Japan  was  another  evil  star  in  this  unfortu- 
nate conjunction. 

In  July,  1890,  several  leaders  in  our 
churches  plainly  told  us  that,  whereas  in 
former  times  their  people  preferred  to  be 


THE  PENDULUM  RETURNING.        247 

taught  by  a  stammering  foreigner,  rather 
than  by  a  Japanese  whom  they  could  fully 
understand,  they  now  preferred  Japanese 
preachers  and  theological  teachers,  and  that 
this  change  was  permanent.  To  some  of 
us  that  was  the  darkest  hour  of  missionary 
experience.  If  this  condition  of  things  was 
to  be  permanent,  as  these  leaders  thought, 
the  end  of  our  usefulness  was  near  at  hand. 

But  indications  soon  appeared  that  the 
reactionary  pendulum  had  reached  its  far- 
thest point,  and  was  again  returning  to  the 
centre.  Experienced  pastors  and  evange- 
lists gave  as  one  reason  for  the  retarded 
progress  in  evangelistic  work  that  year, 
which  had  saddened  all  hearts,  "  a  lack  of 
confidence  in  and  cooperation  with  the  mis- 
sionaries." Then  came  public  and  private 
testimony  to  the  freedom  accorded  them  by 
the  missionaries  in  ecclesiastical  polity  and 
in  the  framing  of  their  creeds,  and  to  the 
love  shown  them  under  all  circumstances. 
At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  churches  in 
Okayama  in  1891,  there  was  still  free  if  not 
caviling  criticism,  and  suggestion  as  to  how 
we  could  do  our  work  more  effectively  (criti- 
cism and  suggestion  which  we  gratefully  re- 
ceived), but  the  vote  to  ask  the  missionaries 


248  THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK. 

to  continue  their  cooperation  was  carried 
with  the  clapping  of  hands  by  the  pastors 
and  evangelists  present.  At  the  same  meet- 
ing a  special  arrangement  was  made  to  send 
out  one  foreigner  and  one  Japanese  together 
to  each  district,  to  arouse  renewed  enthusi- 
asm in  evangelistic  work.  The  most  urgent 
appeals  for  a  large  increase  of  the  mission- 
ary force  have  also  been  made. 

Then,  in  May  of  the  same  year,  occurred 
an  unexpected  event  which  powerfully  af- 
fected the  whole  people.  The  Czarowitz  of 
Russia,  who  was  visiting  Japan,  was  attacked 
by  a  policeman  while  riding  through  the 
city  of  Otsu,  and  narrowly  escaped  with  his 
life.  It  is  impossible  for  those  who  were 
not  on  the  ground  to  understand  what  a 
shock  this  produced.  The  Tenslii  with  his 
cabinet  made  a  hurried  journey  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  to  Kyoto,  went  in  per- 
son to  the  hotel  where  the  wounded  prince 
was  lying,  and  apologized  for  the  insult  of- 
fered him.  The  governor  of  the  province, 
who  had  held  his  office  but  five  days,  was 
removed ;  the  chief  of  police  was  removed 
and  degraded. 

The  common  people  were  profoundly 
affected.     "  See    how    shamefully  we    have 


''END   OF  THE  REACTION.''         249 

treated  a  guest,  a  royal  guest  I  What  will 
mighty  Russia  do !  Into  what  sorrow  and 
anxiety  has  this  act  plunged  our  emperor !  " 
and  similar  exclamations  were  heard  on 
every  hand.  One  woman  made  a  journey 
of  more  than  two  hundred  miles  to  Kyoto, 
and  standing  before  the  government  build- 
ing took  her  own  life,  as  she  said,  "  to  atone 
for  the  nation's  crime." 

The  popular  feeling  began  to  show  itself 
in  the  newspapers.  "  '  Japan  for  the  Jap- 
anese '  is  a  cry  that  has  reason  in  it,  but 
after  all,  it  may  be  abused  by  ignorant  men. 
Let  us  be  more  careful."  Later  articles 
were  published  on  "  The  End  of  the  Reac- 
tion." That  time  is  not  yet  reached,  —  it 
may  still  be  years  in  the  future  ;  but  there 
is  good  ground  for  the  more  sober  statement 
that  "  the  tide  is  turning." 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  theolog- 
ical tide  is  also  turning.  One  of  the  young 
men  who,  according  to  his  own  statements, 
felt  his  faith  slipping  away  from  him,  is  now 
publishing  articles  with  these  sentiments :  — 

"  Christ  was  sinless ;  Christ  was  unique  in 
knowledge  and  independence ;  Christ's  death 
on  the  cross  was  not  simply  an  example  but 
necessary  to  our  salvation,  —  how,  I  don't 
know. 


250      THE  PRESENT  OUTLOOK. 

"  The  resurrection  was  true ;  the  real 
Christ  is  present.  Christ  is  a  living  Christ; 
Christ  is  a  Spirit ;  Christ  is  God." 

The  simpler  creeds,  recently  adopted  by 
the  two  largest  Christian  denominations,  are 
clear  and  outspoken  on  the  essentials  of 
evangelical  religion.  (See  Appendix  E.)  At 
the  close  of  an  harmonious  session  of  a  pres- 
bytery in  Tokyo,  in  October,  1891,  the  moder- 
ator (a  Japanese)  addressed  its  members  as 
follows:  "Novelties  in  doctrine  have  disturbed 
the  peace  of  the  church  during  recent  years, 
but  the  disturbance  is  giving  way  to  quiet 
trust,  as  the  Christians  learn  that  nothing 
can  take  the  place  of  the  old  gospel.  Never 
before  was  the  truth  of  the  divinity  of  our 
Lord  so  intelligently  and  firmly  held  as  now." 

It  would  be  unwise  for  the  missionaries 
to  expect  the  Japanese  to  receive  and  adopt 
our  theology  unchanged  in  form  ;  and  the 
greatest  folly,  to  attempt  to  keep  them  in 
ignorance  of  the  discussions  going  on  in 
Europe  and  America  to-day.  The  discussion 
must  go  on  there  as  it  goes  on  here,  and 
the  more  thorough,  the  better  and  the  safer. 
Only  there  the  forces  being,  in  chemical 
nomenclature,  in  a  nascent  state,  their  opera- 
tion  is  the   more  intense.     We  fight,  too, 


CONDITIONS  OF   VICTORY.  251 

without  the  large  numbers,  the  generations 
of  Christian  experience,  or  the  thorough 
equipment  that  is  possessed  in  Christian 
lands.  The  conflict  is  desperate  and  will 
be  long ;  but  with  wisdom  in  the  use  of  the 
resources  at  our  command,  —  above  all,  with 
harmony  and  mutual  confidence  between 
native  and  foreign  workers,  —  victory  is  cer- 
tain. Enough  has  been  said  in  the  preceding 
pages  to  show  the  high  estimation  in  which 
the  Japanese  preachers  and  pastors  are  held 
by  the  missionaries ;  and  the  appeals  for 
reinforcements  just  referred  to,  and  the  kind 
words  and  deeds  spoken  of  in  the  succeeding 
chapter  show  how  the  missionaries  are  ap- 
preciated by  their  Japanese  brethren.  If 
ever  there  was  a  case  in  which  union  gives 
strength  it  is  this,  and  each  member  of  the 
alliance  ought  to  guard  the  other's  honor  and 
reputation  as  he  guards  his  own.  Failure  to 
do  so  is  an  invitation  to  defeat  and  disaster. 
The  greatest  danger  is  not  from  our  enemies, 
but  from  our  own  ranks ;  for  in  Japan,  as 
everywhere,  the  words  of  Erskine  are  true, 
that  "  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor  of 
Christianity  are  the  sanctifying  influences  of 
its  doctrines ;  the  strongest  arguments  against 
it  are  the  unsanctified  lives  of  its  disciples." 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

SAYONARA. 

Should  the  missionary  in  Japan  ever  be 
tempted  —  as  he  sometimes  doubtless  is  — 
to  think  that  the  Japanese  do  not  want 
him  there,  the  cordial  expressions  of  good 
will  which  he  receives  when  he  starts  home- 
ward are  well  fitted  to  dispel  all  such 
thoughts.  For  days,  it  may  be  for  weeks, 
he  is  in  demand  for  sohetsukai  (farewell 
meetings)  in  different  places  and  under 
different  auspices,  and  he  is  wholly  unpre- 
pared for  the  kindly  feeling  toward  himself 
and  family  which  he  hears  expressed  on 
every  hand.  Every  one  whom  he  has  aided 
or  befriended  in  the  slightest  degree  now 
recalls  the  fact,  and  acknowledges  it  in 
some  touching  way. 

A  distant  Christian  community,  which  he 
visits  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  gathers  in 
an  upper  room,  and  with  words  of  formal 
thanks  from  the  leader,  and  many  prayers 
by  its  members  for  his  safety  by  sea  and 


SOBETSUKAI.  253 

land,  assures  the  missionary  of  grateful  re- 
membrance. The  oldest  of  its  members,  a 
man  of  seventy-seven  years,  reads  the  follow- 
ing original  poem :  — 

' '  Ima  shibashi  kuni  wa  ochi-koclii  hedatsurumo 
Nochi  ni  wa  kiiui  to  amatsu  mi  sono  ni." 

The  meaning,  but  not  the  aroma,  of  this, 
may  be  gathered  from  these  rude  lines :  — 

Though  now  awhile  we  dwell  in  lands  apart, 
Soon  in  heaven's  fields  heart  shall  gladden  heart. 

Then  there  is  a  larger  sobetsukai  at  the 
college,  arranged  for  and  managed  by  the 
students.  Members  of  different  classes 
dwell  upon  the  many  good  deeds  and 
incomparable  virtues  of  the  departing,  in 
fervid  oration,  in  stilted  Chinese  sJd  (verse), 
and  in  smooth  flowing  Japanese  uta  (poems) 
of  the  style  given  above.  There  are  songs, 
general  and  special,  in  English  and  Japa- 
nese, and  the  whole  is  crowned  with  a  sem- 
betsu  (parting  present)  of  a  beautiful  vase. 

A  feast  a  la  Japanaise,  given  by  the  grad- 
uating class  to  the  faculty  of  which  he  is  a 
member,  at  a  restaurant  by  the  riverside,  is 
next  in  order. 

Then  comes  the  church  and  Sunday-school 
with  which  3Irs.  Missionary  has  been  associ- 
ated, and  two  more  sohetsuJcal,  with  speeches, 


254  SAYONARA. 

poems,  songs,  prayers,  and  semhetsu  are  ar- 
ranged for,  and  gone  through  with.  Photo- 
graphs are  desired,  and  for  several  days,  in 
order  to  accommodate  different  sets  of  busy 
people,  the  photographer  is  employed,  at  in- 
tervals, from  six  in  the  morning  till  sunset. 

Representatives  from  another  country 
church  come  fifteen,  twenty,  and  twenty- 
five  miles,  bringing  personal  remembrances, 
as  well  as  a  gift  from  the  church  at  large. 
Their  really  deep  feeling  at  parting  with  an 
associate  of  many  years  is  disguised  in 
formal  manners.  "Blest  be  the  tie  that 
binds,"  in  Japanese,  is  sung,  prayers  are 
offered  for  mutual  safety  and  prosperit}^, 
and  the  most  formal  leave-taking  follows. 

Semhetsu  from  individuals,  from  associ- 
ates in  school  or  church  work,  from  students 
taught  or  aided,  from  shop-keepers  patron- 
ized, from  the  members  of  his  modest  house- 
hold, follow  in  profusion.  Some  are  both 
beautiful  and  valuable.  Even  those  of 
slight  pecuniary  value  —  fans,  tea-pots,  tea- 
cups, vases,  pictures,  or  whatever  they  may  be 
—  are  prized  for  their  intrinsic  beauty,  and 
more  because  they  are  symbols  of  the  donors' 
kind  regards.  Students  confessing  their 
poverty  bring  their  family  swords ;    others 


THE  PARTING    GUEST.  255 

bring  articles  of  historic  association  ;  others 
still,  original  poems,  of  one  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  paraphrase  :  — 

As  on  a  wet  and  gloomy  night 
We  love  to  think  of  the  moon's  soft  light, 
So  in  the  land  to  which  you  've  gone 
In  memory  bright  keep  fair  Nippon. 

In  the  original,  there  is  a  play  upon  the 
word  ame  (rain),  and  the  first  part  of  the 
word  America,  which  gives  it  a  decided  po- 
etic flavor. 

When  the  day  for  departure  comes,  the 
principal,  some  teachers  and  many  students 
from  the  college,  and  scores  of  Christians 
from  the  city,  including  two  members  of  the 
national  parliament,  are  at  the  railway  sta- 
tion two  and  a  half  miles  away  from  his 
home,  to  speed  his  parting.  Letters  are  put 
into  the  hands  of  himself  and  the  members 
of  his  family,  to  read  by  the  way,  as  if 
spoken  words  were  insufficient  to  express 
their  overflowing  kindness.  One  young 
man  follows  him  to  Yokohama,  earnestly 
asking  to  be  taken  to  America,  —  the  sup- 
posed fountain  of  all  that  is  wise  and  good, 
—  that  he  may  become  another  Neesima. 
He  is  restrained  only  by  the  suggestion  that 
it  would  be  showing  disrespect  to  that  noble 


256  SA  YONARA. 

man,  and  disparagement  of  Ms  work,  not  to 
use  to  the  utmost  the  advantages  afforded 
by  the  school  which  he  has  planted.  Just 
before  embarking,  a  beloved  pupil  puts  an- 
other poem  into  his  hands  :  — 

"  Kimi  ga  noru  kisemu  no  keburi  miyum  ma  wa 

Toku  okuramu  Fuji  no  shirayuki." 
Until  thy  steamer's  smoke  is  lost  to  sight 
Thou  'rt  watched  by  Fuji's  snow  so  pure  and  white. 

Were  these  courtesies  thought  of  as  spe- 
cial to  the  present  recipient,  they  certainly 
would  not  be  chronicled  in  these  pages. 
They  are  given,  only  because  they  show  in 
a  concrete  way  the  touching  attentions  which 
the  Japanese  shower  upon  those  who  have 
lived  and  labored  among  them.  Such  at- 
tentions move  the  heart  most  deeply,  and 
make  strong  the  desire  to  add  to  our  sayo- 
nara  the  words  which  so  naturally  follow  it, 
—  mata  mairimasho  (we  will  come  again). 
And  so,  as  we  sail  away^  all  other  thoughts 
and  feelings  are  overshadowed  by  grateful 
love  for  those  who  have  thus  poured  out 
their  kindness  upon  us,  and  our  hearts  re- 
spond to  the  affecting  wakare  no  uta  (poem 
of  parting)  so  characteristically  Japanese :  — 

"  Kagiri  naku 
Omou  namida  ui 


WAKARE.  257 

Sobochinuru 
Sode  wa  kawakaji 
Awan  hi  made  ni." 

Until  the  day  when  we  shall  meet  again, 

Drenched  will  be  my  sleeve  with  tears  that  fall  like  rain. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

Report  of  the  Committee  on  a  Christian 
College  for  Japan. 

The  members  of  the  mission  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 
are  impelled  to  urge  upon  the  Prudential  Committee, 
and  upon  men  of  wealth  in  America,  the  importance 
of  the  immediate  and  thorough  endowment  and 
equipment  of  a  Christian  College  in  Japan. 

Education  is  the  bulwark  of  religion  in  every  age 
and  in  every  land.  If  this  be  true,  the  necessity  for 
a  Christian  education  was  never  more  manifest  than 
it  is  to-day  in  Japan,  where  Christianity  stands  face 
to  face  with  the  most  polished  heathenism,  and,  per- 
haps, the  most  insidious  skepticism  in  the  world. 

Shintoism  has  been  closely  identified  with  and 
strongly  supported  by  the  ancient  language  and  lit- 
erature of  Japan.  Buddhism  came  here,  bringing 
with  it  the  Chinese  language,  and  its  teachers  have 
ever  fostered  Chinese  learning  as  an  important  aux- 
iliary to  their  religious  teachings.  But  the  awak- 
ened Japanese  mind  finds  that  these  systems  of 
learning  are  unable  to  maintain  their  position  in  the 
presence  of  the  new  civilization  coming  here,  and 
that  these  religions,  with  their  fanciful  cosmogonies 


260  APPENDIX. 

and  philosophic  theories,  are  contradicted  by  the 
Western  science  which  he  is  learning.  They  are 
therefore  discarded,  and  all  through  the  Empire  we 
find  young  men  ambitious  of  learning  the  English  lan- 
guage and  English  science.  Asa  result,  Government 
schools  are  established  in  every  city,  and  English  and 
American  teachers  are  imported  to  whom  the  educa- 
tion of  these  young  men,  the  first  young  men  of  the 
land,  is  intrusted.  But  these  foreign  teachers  are  for 
the  most  part  immoral  and  irreligious,  and  the  sci- 
ence which  they  teach  is  skeptical.  "  No  scientific 
man,"  say  they,  *' is  a  Christian."  "The  Bible, 
when  weighed  in  the  balance,  and  tested  in  the 
crucible,  is  found  wanting."  And  so  skepticism, 
clothed  in  the  garb  of  English  science,  and  speaking 
with  the  silvered  tongue  of  English  literature,  is 
taking  possession  of  many  of  the  most  cultured 
minds  in  Japan.  Who  will  stay  it  in  its  course,  or 
bid  it  depart  ?  Plainly  we  cannot  trust  to  the  teach- 
ers in  the  government  schools.  We  cannot  look  for 
help  outside  of  those  who  believe  that  the  fear  of 
Jehovah  is  not  only  the  beginning  of  wisdom,  but 
also  perfectly  consistent  with  its  highest  develop- 
ment. 

We  are  favored  in  having  identified  and  entirely 
in  sympathy  with  us,  in  Mr.  Neesima,  a  native  so 
thoroughly  educated  as  to  command  the  respect  of 
even  the  most  skeptical  minds  of  Japan,  and  who 
also  stands  very  high  in  the  regard  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  Empire.  While  neither  Mr.  Neesima 
nor  any  member  of  the  Mission  undervalues  Bibli- 
cal training  or  teaching,  nor  for  one  moment  thinks 
of  that  as  second  to  scientific  and  literary  culture, 
we  all  feel  that   this   skepticism  lays  upon  us  the 


APPENDIX.  261 

necessity  of  establishing  a  college  in  Japan,  so  thor- 
ough in  all  its  equipments  as  to  put  it  on  an  equality 
with  the  best  government  schools,  and  yet  so  Chris- 
tian as  to  lead  a  large  proportion  of  its  students  to 
pass  from  it  into  our  Theological  Training  School,  — 
in  short,  a  college  which  shall  give  to  young  men 
here  such  a  Christian  education  as  Mr.  Neesima  re- 
ceived in  America. 

We  feel  sanguine  that  tlirough  Mr.  Neesima's 
influence  a  large  part  of  the  endowment  can  be 
raised  in  Japan,  perhaps  enough  to  erect  and  fur- 
nish the  buildings  ;  for  the  endowment  of  the  profes- 
sorships we  look  to  men  of  wealth  at  home. 

We  have  already  secured  in  Mr.  Neesima's  name 
five  and  a  half  acres  of  land  adjoining  the  old 
palace  grounds  of  the  Mikados  in  Kyoto,  for  the 
nominal  price  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  dollars. 
Kyoto  has  long  been  considered  the  religious  and 
educational  centre  of  the  Empire,  and  it  affords  a 
most  desirable  location  for  the  college.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  the  mission  to  erect  buildings  on  a  part 
of  this  land  for  a  Theological  Training  School,  and 
we  hope  that  a  college  may  occupy  the  remain- 
der. 

[After  giving  a  plan  "  for  the  ownership  of  the 
property,  control  of  the  funds  and  management  of 
the  school,"  the  report  goes  on  to  say  :  —  ] 

With  such  a  general  plan,  and  under  such  needs, 
we  ask  for  the  immediate  endowment  and  equip- 
ment of  a  Christian  college  in  Japan,  for  these 
three  things  seem  plain  to  us,  viz.  :  — 

1.  The  need  is  immediate.  There  is  no  time  to 
wait.  There  never  was  a  time  in  Japan  so  full  of 
promise,  and  yet  so  full  of  danger,  and  each  day  of 


262  APPENDIX. 

delay  makes  the  promise  less,  and  the  danger  so 
much  the  greater. 

2.  The  men  as  well  as  a  large  part  of  the  money 
must  come  from  America.  We  have  such  impor- 
tant and  pressing  evangelistic  work  here  that  neither 
Mr.  Neesima  nor  any  member  of  the  Mission  feels 
willing  to  turn  aside  for  college  work. 

3.  The  college   should   be   thoroughly  Christian. 

Adopted  by  the  Mission  to  Japan,  Kobe,  June  21, 
1875. 

(Signed)  O.  H.  Gulick, 

Secretary. 


APPENDIX.  263 

B. 

DosHiSHA  University,   1891-92. 

FACULTY   OF  INSTRUCTION. 

(^Arranged  according  to  time  of  appointment.) 

Rev.  H.  Kozaki.  President ;  Acting  College  Pastor ; 
Professor  of  Bible  Instruction  and  Apologetics. 

Rev.  Jerome  D.  Davis,  D.  D.  Professor  of  Re- 
vealed Theology. 

Rev.  Dwight  W.  Learned,  Ph.  D.  Professor  of 
New  Testament  Literature  and  Exegesis  ;  Church 
History  ;  Economics  and  Politics. 

Herman  K.  Morita.  Professor  of  Logic  ;  Mental 
and  Moral  Sciences. 

Rev.  M.  L.  Gordon,  M.  D.,  D.  D.  Professor  of 
Homiletics  and  Pastoral  Theology. 

K.  Shimomura,  B.  Sc.  (Worcester  Polytechnic  In- 
stitute). Professor  of  Chemistry  ;  Director  of 
the  Harris  School  of  Science. 

Rev.  C.  Marvin  Cady,  A.  M.,  B.  D.  Professor  of 
English  Language  and  Literature. 

John  C.  Berry,  M.  D.  Professor  of  Physiology 
and  Hygiene. 

G.  Eu  Kato.     Professor  of  Mathematics. 

Thomas  K.  Ukita.  Professor  of  Ancient  and 
Modern  History. 

Edmund  Buckley,  A.  M.  Professor  of  Philoso- 
phy. 

Rev.  Arthur  Willis  Stanford,  M.  A.,  B.  D. 
Professor  of  Old  Testament  Literature  and  Exe- 
gesis. 


264  APPENDIX. 

(Vacant.)     Professor  of  Translation  of  English. 

Rev.  George  E.  Albrecht,  A.  M.,  B.  D.  Profes- 
sor of  German  Language  and  Literature  ;  New 
Testament  Literature  and  Exegesis. 

George  C.  Foulk  (Annapolis  Naval  Academy). 
Professor  of  Mathematics. 

(Vacant.)     Professor  of  Physics. 

T.  FuKUSHiMA.     Mathematics. 

Y.  Shigaki.     Translation  of  English. 

K.  Hanabatake.     Translation  of  English. 

M.  Adachi,     Translation  of  English. 

y.  NiSHiMURA.  Free-hand  and  Mechanical  Draw- 
ing. 

N.  H.  KoDAMA,  M.  D.  (University  of  Michigan). 
Professor  of  Biology. 

Rev.  T.  Matsuyama.  Professor  of  Japanese  Lit- 
erature and  History. 

S.  MONDEN.     Chinese. 

Y.  Ono,  B.  Ph.  (Oberlin  College),  Ph.  D.  (Uni- 
versity of  Michigan),  Professor  of  Economics  ; 
Director  of  the  School  of  Political  Science  and 
Law. 

Arthur  W.  Be  all,  B.  A.  English  Language  and 
Literature. 

H.  Kato.  Acting  Assistant  Principal  of  the  Pre- 
paratory School. 

G.  Kashiwagi.     Mathematics. 

B.  Hadano.     Mathematics. 

M.  Hanada.     Chinese. 

K.  KuRiu.     German  and  Physics. 

K.  AsuKAi.     Keramic  Arts. 

K.  YuASA,  B.  D.  (Oberlin  College),  Ph.  D.  (Yale 
University).  Professor  of  Old  Testament  Litera- 
ture and  Hebrew. 


APPENDIX.  265 

Y.  Hattori,  B.  a.  Translation  of  English  and 
Elementary  Sciences. 

Rev.  Harper  H.  C gates,  M.  A.,  B.  Do  English 
Language  and  Literature. 

I.  Kato.     Lecturer  on  Buddhism. 

K.  Yamasaki.     Lecturer  on  Jurisprudence. 

Y.  Hara.     Lecturer  on  Book-keeping. 

K.  Koga.  Japanese  Composition  ;  Dormitory  Man- 
ager. 

O.  Otani.     Japanese  History. 

U.  Wakamatsu.  Mathematics  ;  Japanese  Geogra- 
phy and  History. 

Orlando  N.  Benton.  English  Language  and  Lit- 
erature. 


266  APPENDIX. 

C. 

Japanese  Christian  Literature. 

The  Life  of  Christ.     Kev.  Wm.  Imbrie,  D.  D.,  and 

Rev.  K.  Ibuka. 

(lUustrated.)     Rev.  J.  D.  Davis,  D.  D. 

Young's  Christ  of  History.     Rev.  K.  Ibuka. 
Geikie's  Life  of  Christ.     Translated  by  Rev.  M.  S. 

Vail. 
Stalker's  Life  of  Christ.     Translated  by  Mr.  Adachi. 
Commentary  on  the  New  Testament.     Rev.  D.  W. 

Learned,  Ph.  D. 

The  Four  Gospels.     Rev.  N.  Tamura. 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount.     Rev.  J.  L.  Atkin- 
son. 
First  Corinthians.     Rev.  Otis  Cary  and  Rev.  P. 

Kanamori. 

' Thessalonians.     Rev.  J.  H.  DeForest,  D.  D. 

A  Harmony  of  the  Gospels.     Rev.  Mr.  Hutchinson. 
A   System   of    Theology.      Rev.    J.   L.   Amerman, 

D.  D. 

Rev.  J.  D.  Davis,  D.  D. 

Raymond's   Systematic    Theology.      Translated  by 

Rev.  Mr.  Yamada. 
Harris's  Self-Revelation  of  God.   Translated  by  Rev. 

T.  S.  Tyng. 
Lightfoot's  Essays.     Translated  by  Rev.  T.  S.  Tyng. 
Hopkins's  Evidence  of  Christianity.     Translated  by 

Rev.  T.  S.  Tyng. 
Fisher's  Grounds  of  Theistic  and   Christian  Belief. 

Abridged  and  translated  by  Rev.  J.  T.  Yokoi. 
Bowne's  Philosophy  of  Theism.    Translated  by  Rev. 

J.  F.  Belknap. 


APPENDIX.  267 

The  Mystery  of  Life.  (English  and  Japanese.)   Rev. 

G.  W.  Knox,  D.  D. 
Evidences  of  Christianity.    (English  and  Japanese.) 

Rev.  J.  D.  Davis,  D.  D. 
Old  Testament  Introduction.     Rev.  H.  B.  Johnson. 
Old  Testament  History.     Rev.  S.  G.  M'Laren. 
Briggs's   Messianic  Prophecy.     Translated  by  Rev. 

M.  L.  Gordon. 
A  Church  History.     Rev.  D.  W.  Learned,  Ph.  D. 

Rev.  D.  S.  Spencer. 

Sheldon's  History  of  Doctrine.     Translated  by  Rev. 

M.  S.  Vail. 
Cruden's  Concordance.     Rev.  D.  W.  Learned,  Ph.  D. 
Life  of  Neesima.     Rev.  J.  D.  Davis,  D.  D. 
Gladden's  Being  a  Christian.     Translated  by  Rev.  J. 

T.  Yokoi. 
The  Resurrection.     Rev.  J.  H.  DeForest,  D.  D. 
Dale's   The   Living  Christ   and  the  Four   Gospels. 

Translated  by  Rev.  T.  Harada. 


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270  APPENDIX. 


E. 

The  creeds  thus  adopted  under  fire,  so  to  speak,  are 
given  as  objects  of  more  than  passing  interest.  That 
of  the  Kumi-ai  churches,  adopted  April,  1892,  is  as 
follows  :  — 

"  We  believe  in  one  God,  infinite  and  perfect,  who 
is  revealed  in  the  Bible  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy- 
Spirit. 

"We  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  who,  being  God, 
became  man,  suffered,  died,  and  rose  again  for  the 
redemption  of  the  world. 

"  We  believe  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  gives  new 
life. 

"  We  believe  in  the  Bible,  which  was  given  by  in- 
spiration and  makes  us  wise  unto  salvation. 

"  We  believe  in  the  Holy  Church,  baptism  by  water, 
the  Holy  Supper,  the  Lord's  Day,  immortality  of  the 
soul,  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  a  righteous  judg- 
ment." 

The  church  that  has  grown  up  in  connection  with 
the  work  of  the  six  Presbyterian  missionary  societies, 
the  "  Church  of  Christ  in  Japan,"  has  adopted  the 
following  :  — 

CONFESSION   OF   FAITH. 

"  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom  we  adore  as  God, 
the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  for  us  men  and  for 
our  salvation  was  made  man  and  suffered.  He  of- 
fered up  a  perfect  sacrifice  for  sin  ;  and  all  who  are 
one  with  Him  by  faith  are  pardoned  and  accounted 
righteous  ;  and  faith  in  Him  working  by  love  purifies 
the  heart. 


APPENDIX.  271 

« The  Holy  Ghost,  who  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son  is  worshiped  and  glorified,  reveals  Jesus  Christ 
to  the  soul  ;  and  without  His  grace  man,  being  dead 
in  sin,  cannot  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God.  By  Him 
the  prophets  and  apostles  and  holy  men  of  old  were 
inspired  ;  and  He,  speaking  in  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  is  the  supreme  and  infalli- 
ble Judge  in  all  things  pertaining  to  faith  and  living. 

"  From  these  Holy  Scriptures  the  ancient  Church 
of  Christ  drew  its  confession  ;  and  we,  holding  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,  join  in  that  confes- 
sion with  praise  and  thanksgiving  :  — 

"  I  believe  in  God,  the  Father  Almighty,  Maker  of 
heaven  and  earth  ;  and  in  J^sus  Christ  His  only 
Son  our  Lord,  who  was  conceived  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  suffered  under 
Pontius  Pilate,  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried.  He 
descended  into  Hades  ;  the  third  day  He  rose  from 
the  dead  ;  He  ascended  into  Heaven,  and  sitteth  at 
the  right  hand  of  God,  the  Father  Almighty  ;  from 
thence  He  shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the 
dead. 

"  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  ;  the  Communion  of  Saints  ;  the  forgiveness 
of  sins  ;  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  life 
everlasting.     Amen." 


INDEX. 


Adams,  Dr.  A.  H.,169, 
American  Board,  does  not  aid  in 

church-building,  70. 
American  Board's  Japan  Mission, 

educational    policy  of,  156  f., 

259  ff. 
American  Christians,  missionary 

zeal  of,  41. 
American   merchant,   testimony 

of,  119. 
Amino,  old  lady  from,  102  f. 
Apologies,  38. 
Army,  223. 

Bacon,  Miss  A.  M.,  on  the  posi- 
tion of  woman,  180 ;  on  music, 
196. 

Bathroom,  90. 

Baths,  91. 

Beautiful,  the  love  of,  6. 

Beginning,  diflSculties  of,  40. 

Berry,  Dr.  J.  C,  168, 171. 

Bible,  translation  of,  197,  200  ; 
influence  of,  on  language,  198. 

Blunders,  in  the  use  of  the  lan- 
guage, 22. 

Brown,  Dr.  S.  R.,  ix,  197. 

Buddhism,  72,  77,  103,  132,  215 ; 
teachings  of,  concerning  wo- 
man, 176. 

Buckley,  Mrs.  Dr.,  171. 

Callers,  93. 

Carey,  William,  3. 

Chadai,  91. 

Chamberlain,   Professor  B.   H., 

19,  24,  77,  173,  176._ 
Charcoal-burners,  125. 
Chinese  ideographs,  20. 
Chinese  hterature,  24. 
Chinese  words,  21. 
Christian,  the,  61. 
Christian  civilization,    triumphs 

of,  228. 
Christianity    and    New    Japan, 

228  ff. 


Christianity  and  other  religions, 

100. 
Christianity,  early  opposition  to, 

42  ;  fruits  of,  85,  117  ff. 
Church,    a    Japanese    national, 

203. 
Church-building,  70. 
Civilization,    Japanese,    old,    8  ; 

new,  9,  221  ff . ;  deficiencies  of, 

227. 
Clark,  Mrs.  B.  W.,  gift  of,  162. 
Clark,  President,  53. 
Climate,  0. 

CoUege  planned  for,  1.57,  259  ff. 
Coming  to  the  light,  100  ff. 
Comity,  rules  of,  204  ff. 
Comparative  religion,  209  ff. 
Concessions,  foreign,  86. 
Confucianism,    evil    effects    of, 

123. 
Confucianism    vs.    Christianity, 

56,  57,  132,  215. 
Conversation,  beginning,  17. 
Converts,  first,  47. 
Courtesy,  importance  of,  31,  32, 

35. 
Covenant   on  Hana  -  oka  -  yama, 

59. 
Covenant  kept,  181. 
Creeds,  249. 
Criticism    of    the     Bible,     244, 

245. 
Criticisms    of    missionaries,   11, 

119. 
Cross,  the,  215. 

Cumberland    Presbyterian    mis- 
sion, 108. 
Curious  letter,  a,  109. 
Czarowitz,  attempted  assassina- 
tion of,  248. 

Daimyo,  feudal  lords,  33,  54. 
Davis,  Dr.  J.  D.,  64. 
De  Forest,  Dr.  J.  H.,  105. 
Dendo  guaisha,  missionary  soci- 
ety, 153  ff. 


274 


INDEX. 


Denominationalism,  199  ff. 

Depreciating  self,  etc.,  35. 

Difficulties,  nature  of,  4,  12,  41, 
243  ff. 

Disturbances,  75. 

Doma,  entrance  to  house,  66,  67. 

Doshisha  school,  x,  59  ff.,  116, 
156-164,  259,  262  ;  location  of, 
158  ;  opening  of,  158 ;  gifts  to, 
161  f. ;  relation  to  Kumi  -  ai 
churches,  163 ;  students  of, 
163. 

Earthquakes  and  relief,  133. 

Ebina,  Rev.  J.  D.,  63. 

Edicts,  anti-Christian,  42. 

Education,  the  new,  225  ;  expen- 
ditures for,  226. 

English  language,  early  teaching 
of,  46  f.,  53  f. 

English  merchant,  testimony  of, 
120. 

Enzetsukai,  lecture  meetings,  70. 

Etiquette,  33,  37,  75. 

Evening  meetings,  97. 

Exports,  223. 

Extortioners,  34. 

Faber,  Rev.  E.,  191. 

Facility  of  travel,  3. 

Faithful  son,  a,  107. 

Family  Life  as  affected  by  Chris- 
tianity, 85. 

Family  persecution,  60. 

Fatherhood  of  God,  214. 

First  Japanese  church,  50. 

Forgiveness,  217,  218. 

Fukui,  early  Christian  work  in, 
120  ff. 

Future  life,  219. 

Geisha,  dancing  girls,  92. 
German  missionaries,  244. 
Goma,  work  in  village  of,  142. 
"Gordon  Rule,"  the,  48. 
Greene,  Dr.  D.  C,  ix,  197. 
Griffis,  Dr.  W.  E.,  228. 
Guthrie,  Dr.,  128. 

Hail,  Dr.,  109. 

Hardships,  few,  4,  10. 

Harris,  J.  N.,  161. 

Heathen,  avoidance  of  word,  3. 

Hepburn,  Dr.  J.  C,  ix,  44,  166, 

168,  197. 
Hibachi,  Brasiers,  95,  96. 
Honorifins,  35,  36. 
Hospitality,  95. 


Hotels,  90,  91. 
Household  foes,  60,  217. 
Hymnology,  196. 

Ichihara,  Dr.  M.,  63. 

Ichikawa  Einosuke,  persecution 

of,  43. 
Ideal,  a  new,  135. 
Idolatry,    folly    of,     illustrated, 

79  ff. 
Ikebukuro,  S.,  poem  by,  128. 
Imports,  223. 
Inouye,  Count,  159,  233. 
Ishii,    founder    of     orphanaee, 

127  ff. 

Janes,  Captain  and  Mrs.,  53  ff. 

"Japan  Mail,"  78. 

"Japan  for  the  Japanese,"  246, 
249. 

"Japanese  Boy,  A,"  quoted,  22. 

Japanese-English  dictionary,  44. 

Japanese  language.  See  Lan- 
guage. 

Japanese  people  our  antipodes, 
28. 

Japanese  preachers,  77  ff. 

Jesus  Clirist,  impression  made  by 
the  person  of,  215,  217. 

Jinrikisha  travel,  89. 

Kameoka,  136. 

Kanamori,  Rev.  P.,  53,  62. 

Kato,  Professor,  64. 

Kido,  Japanese  statesman,  43. 

Kogisho,  public  preaching-places, 
67,  75. 

Kozaki,  Rev.  H.,  62,  164,  197. 

"  Kumamoto  Band,"  53  ff.,  216. 

Kumi-ai  churches,  149-155;  or- 
gan of,  149  ;  meaning  of  word, 
149 ;  characteristic  ideas  of, 
150,  151 ;  growth  of,  152 ;  self- 
support  in,  154;  self-govern- 
ment of,  154  ;  missionaries'  re- 
lation to,  155. 

Lady  missionaries,  example  of, 
180,  185;  influence  of,  101; 
character  of,  179 ;  as  evangel- 
ists, 184 ;  as  advisers,  185. 

Language,  Japanese,  necessity  of 
study  of,  14  ;  characteristics  of, 
19 ;  place  in  philology,  24  ;  tinie 
required  in  study  of,  25  ;  hon- 
orific and  depreciatory  terms 
in,  35  f. 

Laning,  Dr.  H.,  170. 


INDEX. 


275 


Learning  to  talk,  difficulties  of, 
18. 

Legislatures,  prefectural,  236, 
238. 

Leper,  a  Christian,  144  f. 

Lighthouses,  223. 

Literature,  Japanese,  24 ;  Chris- 
tian Japanese,  186  ff.,  266 ; 
Christian  Cliinese,  187. 

MacDonald,  Dr.,  170. 
Making  a  start,  40  fif. 
Martin,  Rev.  Dr.,  188. 
Martyn,  Henry,  3.     _     ^ 
Medical  missions,  165-172. 
Missionaries,   criticisms  of,   11 ; 
early  ill-treatment  of,  2 ;    re- 
lation  to   churches,  154,  155 ; 
subordinate    position    of,   12  ; 
number  of,  232 ;   residence  in 
Japan,  41,  87  ;  travel,  87. 
Missionary  work,  justification  of, 

39. 
Miyadzu,  work  in,  84. 
Miyagawa,  Rev.  S.,  63. 
Mori,  Viscount,  anecdote  of,  191. 
Morita,  Dr.  H.  K.,  63. 
MuUer,  George,  126  f. 
Murakami,  T.,  136  ff. 

Names,  double,  21,  22. 

Navy,  223. 

Neesima,  Dr.  J.  H.,  83,  93,  113, 
127, 188, 189  ;  educational  plans 
of,  157  ff.,  260;  influential 
friends  of,  159  ;  bold  utterances 
of,  160  ;  appeal  to  his  country- 
men, 101  ;  his  successor,  164. 

Newspapers,  224. 

New  Testament,  found  in  the 
water,  115  ;  translation  of,  197. 

New  Year's  celebrations,  103. 

Obedience  to  parents  carried  to 

an  excessive  degree,  123. 
Orphanage,  Okayama,  127  £E. 
Outlook,  present,  240  ff. 

Palm,  Dr.  T.,  171. 

Parliament,     large    number    of 

Christians  in,  234,  235. 
Passports,  87  f. 
Patient  hearers,  74. 
Paupers,  6. 
People,    characteristics    of,    9  ; 

study  of,  27  ff. 
Periodicals,  195,  224. 
Perry,  Commodore,  228,  229. 


Persecution,  60  ff.,  75,  217. 

Personality,  sacredness  of,  29. 

Pettee,  Rev.  J.  H.,  132. 

Physicians,  Japanese,  142,  169, 
172. 

Political  progress,  226. 

Postal  system,  222. 

Poverty,  not  extreme,  5. 

Prayer  answered,  58,  131. 

Prayer,  true  spirit  of,  214, 

Preachers,  Japanese,  77  ff. 

Preaching,  first,  65  II. 

Prmting,  method  of,  194. 

Prison,  the  Gospel  in,  124  ;  chap- 
lain of,  147. 

Protestant  missionaries,  45,  268. 

Protestant  missionaries  of  cen- 
tral Japan,  action  of,  26. 

Questions,  knotty,  139. 

Railroads,  222. 

Reaction,  anti-foreign,  causes  of, 
240;  extent  of,  242;  check 
upon,  247. 

Reform,  Christians  and,  238. 

Repentance,  214. 

Revival,  a,  57. 

Rikugo  Zasshi,  a  Christian  mag- 
azine, 02,  195. 

Roman  Catholic  Christians,  42. 

Sad  fall,  a.  111. 

Sak(?,  a  liquor  brewed  from  rice, 

102. 
Samurai,  the  experience  of,  121. 
Satow,  E.  M.,  24. 
Sayonara,  "good  by,"  252. 
Schools,  number  and  grade  of, 

226  ;  for  girls,  182. 
Schools,  Sunday,  232. 
School  of  Science,  Harris,  162. 
Scriptures,   illustrations  of   the 

power  of,  112  ff. 
Sekkyokai,  sermon  meetings,  70. 
Self-denial,  70. 
Selfish  inquirers,  49. 
Semsetsu,  parting  presents,  253. 
Sen,  cent,  91. 
Shibai,  a  theatre,  70,  77. 
Shimomura,  Professor,  63. 
Shin  Nippon,  221. 
Shintoism,  157. 
Shinto  priests,  77. 
Sin,  sense  of,  213,  218. 
Sobetsukai,    farewell    meetings, 

252. 
Statistics,  268,  269. 


27G 


INDEX. 


Street  preaching,  never  popular, 

69. 
Students,  181. 
Study  of  the  people,  27  £f. 
Suicides,  141,  181. 

Take-no-uchi,  84. 

Tamba,  church  in,  136-148, 

Taylor,  Dr.,  170. 

Teaching  English,  45. 

Telegraphs,  222. 

Telephone,  222. 

Tendo  Sogen,  188  f . 

Theatre  meetings,  71  f. 

Themes  of  sermons,  73. 

Theological  tide  turning,  249. 

Tokutomi,  63. 

Touring,  86  ff.,  varied  experi- 
ences in,  98. 

Tracts,  194. 

Trade,  223,  224. 

Tristram,  Canon,  testimony  of, 
12. 

Tsuyama,  thief-searching  in,  117. 

Ukita,  Professor,  64. 
Unitarian,  "  envoy,"  244. 


Universal  Postal  Union,  4. 
University,  Doshisha,  156-164. 
University,  Imperial,  45,  226. 

Vague  ideas  of  missionary  life, 

2. 
Verbeck,  Dr.  G.,  x,  46,  87,  115, 

233. 
Visitors,  inconsiderate  questions 

of,  31  ;  conduct  of,  34. 

Wakasa-no-Kami,  114  f. 

Wakayama,  woman  of,  107. 

Wife,  duties  of,  174. 

Woman,  sad  experiences  of,  123; 
subordinate  position  of,  173 ff.; 
education  of,  177  ;  what  Chris- 
tianity has  done  for,  178  ff., 
183  ;  nature  of,  174  ;  Professor 
Chamberlain  on  the  present  po- 
sition of,  176. 

Womanhood,  Christian,  173  ff., 
219. 

World,  Christianity  and  the,  219. 

Yamamoto,  157  f.,  189  f. 
Yokoi,  Rev.  J.  T.,  x,  62,  73,  83. 


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